New Lib Dems leader Swinson must reconcile conflicting stance on referendums

Can new Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson possibly reconcile her conflicting stance on referendums (your report, 24 July)? I find her attitude perplexing. She argues that the September 2014 independence referendum ended in a decisive No vote over a detailed proposal (presumably the Scottish Government’s White paper, Scotland’s Future), whereas another vote on the European Union might offer a way out of the current impasse.

In fact the vote just less than five years ago asked the people to vote not on the details of a document but on the simple question: “Should Scotland be an independent country?”

The debate on that centred on an argument that has being going on ever since the famous 1967 Hamilton by-election, an argument pursued in press, parliament, pub and latterly on social media. The debate on Europe has been going on much longer than that, indeed, ever since the European Economic Community was founded in 1957, and vigorously since the confirmatory referendum in 1975. I find it difficult to accept the view that people did not know what they were voting for. It is also difficult, in democratic terms, to argue that people should not have the right to vote on these matters again. The question is “when?”.

A poll on both these issues in the next 12 months would be a recipe for constitutional chaos. A vote on independence after the 2021 Holyrood elections would be practical, particularly if Britain has then left the European Union and more or less completed the transition phase. A vote on the European Union in the middle of the next decade is feasible but will the public wear it after the turmoil of the last year? It took Britain 16 years to join the EEC, and another 40 years to reverse its decision. Ms Swinson may have to decide if her energies should be devoted to ensuring Britain gets favourable terms after it has left, rather than promoting a speedy and divisive poll that is likely to confuse and disillusion the voters even more.

BOB TAYLOR Shiel Court, Glenrothes

I have mixed feelings about the election of Jo Swinson to the leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party.

I welcome and support her robust opposition to Brexit in any form whatsoever. On the other hand I remain distinctly unimpressed by her personal involvement in enabling the devastating cuts to public spending in the coalition years. It has been suggested that austerity contributed to a “national mood of resentment that made it easy for right wing opportunists to fuel antiimmigrant sentiment”.

I ask that my dilemma be resolved by a convincing response from a source sympathetic to the Libdem cause.

JOHN MILNE Ardgowan Drive, Uddingston