Sturgeon should set aside Independence dream and get on with running nation

So now we have seen it all– Ni cola Sturgeon will have enough brass neck to call on the UK Government to provide £80 billion to “kickstart” the Scottish region’s economy after lockdown is finally over.

What absolute hypocrisy! Is this how she defines the route to independence? Surely it must have occurred to her, and her minority administration to ask, if ever Scotland were to become independent of the

UK, just who would it turn to in crisis situations such as we are currently in? Just where would the SNP find a “white knight” if Scotland should ever decide to abandon being part of the UK? The EU is certainly not waiting with open arms for would-be breakaway parts of centuries-old kingdoms or countries such as Scotland or Catalonia.

And furthermore, it is not as if S cotland is even economically viable. There is a timely warning from the Institute of Fiscal Studies that the annual Expenditure and Revenue S cotland (GERS) deficit for Scotland could rise to 28 per cent of GDP in this financial year. And the GERS certainly do not reflect the full impact of Covid-19 since the figures only cover the financial year up to 5 April of this year. The current period is not included.

It is high time Sturgeon et al. just got on with the job expected of them by the electorate. Independence may seem like an exciting adventure to some, but to realists it would most certainly be disastrous for Scotland’s future. ROBERT IG SCOTT Northfield, Ceres, Fife

Mary Thomas( Letters ,28 August) showed not only her ignorance but also her disdain for the rest of the people in the

UK. She wrote regarding the UK’S national debt that under international law Scotland is not liable for any part of it postindependence.

Even it that is true does she think that the UK Government and people would take this without response? No, such a move by an independent Scotland could result in up to 100 per cent tariffs on Scottish goods entering or transiting the UK, plus import duties until and if Scotland joins the EU, plus a reluctance of lenders to deal with Scotland – irresponsible. It would also sour Uk-scottish relationships for generations.

Such a reduction in trade would not hurt the UK but decimate Scotland, leading millions into poverty–all to prove a nationalist point.

(DR) ROGER I CARTWRIGHT Turretbank Place Crieff, Perthshire