Scots’ many freedoms include the right to refuse independence

LETTERS

I AM asked directly (Letters, July 7), regarding civil and political freedoms enjoyed in Scotland, whether these should not include self-determination, and whether the outcome of the Brexit referendum does not show a deficiency in these liberties.

In response, I would point out the independence referendum of September 2014 was the biggest ever exercise in self-determination that Scotland had ever seen, and that this was only exceeded by the Brexit referendum in which Scotland participated as part of the UK.

The 2014 outcome resulted in the participation of every Scottish voter in 2016 as to whether the UK should remain in or leave the EU: the question was not about Scotland, nor did any ballot paper bear the disclaimer “Does not apply in Scotland.” While a majority of Scottish voters rejected the proposition, the same can be said of London and various other parts of the UK, and the vote of every Scot was equal to that of every other voter, whatever their postcode or background.

Your readers may wish to reflect that those who deny these facts, such as some of your correspondents, are the true deniers of Scottish self-determination. The same applies to those, including the SNP, who seek to undermine the choices we have freely made both as Scottish and British voters.

Peter A Russell, 87 Munro Road, Jordanhill, Glasgow.

A NUMBER of your correspondents (Letters, July 7) reacted with high dudgeon to David Bone (Letters, July 6) who said he was desperate to return to a time when Scotland was not riven with division. The content of their responses demonstrated some of the broad assertions and slurs that can fuel discord, most particularly when it comes to the question of Scottish independence.

One harks back to 1707 and, with a couple of broad sweeps, appears to link injustices then to current events, as if all things bad happening from the mists of time to the present day can be laid at the door of UK “elites”. Another stoops to that lowest of low blows by speaking of all who do not agree with them as continuing “to talk Scotland down”.

Yet this line of thinking only mimics the lead from the top of the SNP. Our previous First Minister has always been quick to draw parallels between the ills of the past and today’s perceived grievance. Meanwhile, the present Scottish Government is led by one who is happy to use the “talking Scotland down” insult during First Minister’s Questions as a supposed put-down of her opponents, most recently in relation to Kezia Dugdale, the leader of Scottish Labour. This was a shameful outburst for which Nicola Sturgeon should have been called to order in the debating chamber.

If the SNP and those who support independence focused more on presenting a rationale argument rather than seeking to deride their opponents, they might be less prone to accusations of divisiveness.

Keith Howell, White Moss, West Linton, Peeblesshire.

SUSAN SWAIN avers that “62 per cent of Scots voted to remain in the EU” (Letters, July 7). This vote has been described, by the First Minister on many occasions and by others, as “overwhelming”. However, this percentage applies to those Scots who voted and corresponds to about 40 per cent of the electorate; in other words, an overwhelming minority.

William Durward, 20 South Erskine Park, Bearsden,

East Dunbartonshire.

IT IS often asserted by Unionists that a free Scotland, a nation of sovereign status, is a concept of recent years. Not so. The aspiration was evident at the beginning of the 20th century and continued before and after the establishment of the Common Market, which has grown into the EU.

In the 2014 referendum the SNP missed a successful Yes position by 192,000 votes, achieving 1,618,000 in total.

The General Election of 2017 gave the SNP 37 per cent of the popular vote, Tories 29 per cent and Labour 27 per cent. It is acknowledged Scottish sovereignty is the principal objective of SNP, the support for which is as indicated. It is equally acknowledged that a slice of the Tory and Labour support in an independence vote would record a Yes preference.

An examination of the history of the Act of Union in 1707 will reveal that there was a degree of coercion by the English Commissioners to achieve the result they needed, and it is significant that no vote of the people of Scotland was ever held to approve it, a situation that subsisted until 2014, 307 years later. It is worthy of note that of all the nation states that have achieved sovereign status since 1945, Scotland is one of a very small number who pursued their goal by only democratic means, without recourse to any form of aggression.

It is therefore surely contrary to the norms of natural justice that a people of some five million is to be denied forever in the arbitrary manner being adopted, the democratic right to choose its own future, and equally to be restricted to only one opportunity to do so, irrespective of the changes in internal and external pressures affecting the lives of its people.

Is the ability or legitimacy of a change of course while adhering to an original aim the privilege of only the (temporary) leader and ministers of the UK? That concept defies rational argument.

There is no appetite at Westminster to recognise the possibility of an independent Scotland, but why should there be a fear of a friendly, supportive, neighbour north of the Tweed with permanent ties of family, and so on, but quietly getting on with running its own affairs, with no threat to any other country, but in full co-operation with the rest of the world?

Scotland for sound reasons is not enamoured of the “precious

Union” but is pragmatic in its ambition to be unencumbered by the power-seeking parties who inhabit Westminster.

John Hamilton,

G/2, 1 Jackson Place, Bearsden,

East Dunbartonshire,

COULD anyone explain why many of those who believe in the unity of the United Kingdom expect those who believe in an independent Scotland to give up the principle of independence while not being prepared themselves to abandon the principle of Unionism?

Margaret MH Lyth, 28 Gardenside Street, Uddingston,

South Lanarkshire.