Don’t judge nations on their politicians

I NOTE contributions from Alasdair Galloway and GR Weir (Letters, May 13). They are keen separatists who don’t like the idea of Scotland having little influence in a large union. They both want to join a larger union where our influence will drop from about 10 per cent to about one per cent.

Mr Weir suggests Scottish exceptionalism about not building nuclear submarines and getting America to arm them, forgetting that the Scottish Government aim of remaining in Nato involves nuclear deterrent and defence. The issue about Russia seems to gloss over our Government’s failed attempts to do a £10 billion business deal with China.

The issue with dodgy money was not exclusively an English, London problem. The unique Scottish Limited Partnerships (SLPS) where names are not needed, were found in 2019 to have used 100 companies and laundered £64 billion of Russian money in four years.

Walking away from treaties describes the Edinburgh Agreement signed by Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon and their subsequent actions.

Scotland and England are two similar countries which should not be judged, favourably or otherwise, based on the temporary presence of politicians with multiple fault lines in their parties and themselves.

John Leonard, Falkirk.