Report shows independence still a better option than staying with Westminster

These Islands is not a neutral think tank (Keith Howell, Letters, 24 July) as its sole objective is to campaign against self-government for Scotland and its critique of the Growth Commission report is deeply flawed as it doesn’t address the fundamental question of why Scotland consistently underperforms compared with other small, independent countries in our ability to generate and distribute wealth.

The These Islands analysis completely ignores the impact of Brexit, which, according to the House of Commons Brexit committee’s impact report, will cause an economic downturn that is even worse than the 1931 Great Depression.

And last week the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that tax hikes and spending cuts worth an extra £39 billion every decade for the next 50 years would be needed to sort out the UK’S ballooning national debt.

What is undeniable is that Scotland is currently underperforming, and there is little reason to doubt that this will continue to be the case unless a change is made.

No less an authority than former UK Treasury Minister Lord Jim O’neill described Britain’s woeful performance on income per head, productivity and regional inequality as “bog standard stats” that should surprise no one.

The Growth Commission ignored oil revenues in its deliberations yet illustrated that even in worst-case scenario independence is a better option than sticking with the failed Westminster approach that created Scotland’s notional GERS deficit.

MARY THOMAS

Watson Crescent, Edinburgh

It’s about time there was a detailed, well-argued and fully-evidenced defenestration of the Wilson Growth Commission report.

It is certainly only more realistic than its 2013 predecessor but, as the These Islands analysis points out, not rigorous enough and too optimistic and therefore provides unlimited ammunition for the No side. Andrew Wilson has acknowledged this, it hasn’t gone down well with the Yes movement and, to his credit, he stood up to his critics in a recent interview when he said: “If you are on the radical left, you might take a cynical view,” “Well, who cares what the financial institutions think” and “That’s fine, but we have to build the country. And we have to build and earn the right over time to do other things.”

Andrew Wilson also seems in favour of a “soft Scexit” and talks about “independence within the UK”, an approach which won’t please impatient nationalists.

For No voters the 2013 independence white paper was too good to be true. For nationalists the Wilson report is too true to be good.

ALLAN SUTHERLAND

Willow Row, Stonehaven