Letters II: There is no 'queue' to join when seeking EU membership

None more so than that of William Ross with his “Scots face another kick in the teeth from Europe” diatribe (Letters, February 14).

The smoothness with which the lies are told demonstrates the practised hand of conservative scaremongering at work, but too many Scots are now able to see them for what they are: simple, blatant lies.

Mr Ross declares loudly and incorrectly that there is a queue to join the EU and that Scotland would have to go to the back of it unless Spain agreed to move them forward. This is a fat lie!

There is no queue!

Applications for membership are dealt with strictly according to when the application is made. Multiple stages have to be satisfied so although Scotland might be the last to apply, from those mentioned, it may also be the first to emerge as a full EU member due to existing EU compliance.

The EU can handle many applicants at the same time, Mr Ross. It is not like a post office or a giant Lidl with just one cashier.

See the smooth delivery of the lie that won’t die, that an independent Scotland’s currency cannot be sterling!

Yes it can, Mr Ross, any country in the world can use it if it wants to but, Mr Ross, we don’t want it. It’s weak.

This “Can’t use our pound” mantra is a proven lie but it reminds me of Brexit Rabbit and the briar patch.

Westminster secretly wants Scotland to use sterling, it gives them fiscal power!

See the masterful diversion in the statement that “The only purpose of an independence referendum before Brexit is to remain in the EU!”

No it isn’t, Mr Ross, it is to gain independence for Scotland. The matter of the EU comes later, maybe not at all! That is up to the Scots to decide, not the xenophobic hordes in the south.

Although he uses the euro as a threat, he ignores the fact that the Westminster pound has fallen catastrophically to the point that Scotland could easily run both its own pound and the euro in parallel, using them both freely side by side, locking them together as it watches the Westminster pound continue to sink.

And mark my words, it is going to sink as the truth of Brexit becomes clear!

By the way, here he has another lie: ‘Scotland will be forced to use the euro.” No it won’t, ever! It will have a free choice.

The loony press and Mr Ross refer to “the utterly crazy euro”. What is he like? The euro is just about the most stable currency in the world.

We are going to get a lot of hot air like that from people like Mr Ross but nothing new! We heard it all in 2014 and it won’t work again!
Christopher Bruce
Taynuilt

WILLIAM Ross’s letter makes some valid points but it is a pity that it was published in the same edition that included the beautiful sentiments expressed in Sara Sheridan’s “love letter”

to Europe from Scotland and the comments from the European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, that Europe “cannot afford to lose” Scotland.

I am sure that William was not trying to ridicule our First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, in her attempts to resolve a probable hard Brexit outcome by implying that little has been achieved by her visits to Brussels, selfies and coffees, and his inclusion of Burns’s Ae Fond Kiss verse was entirely in the spirit of the day.
Laurie McAlindin
Edinburgh

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Crofters lost out out on EU funding that was ring-fenced for them

THE references in John Scobie’s letter to the voting record of the majority of crofters in the two referenda was extremely interesting and reminded me of something relevant that happened not so long ago, but which may not be common knowledge (Letters, February 13).

The EU discovered that Scottish hill farmers and crofters were receiving a lower subsidy than continental farmers with equally poor-quality land. To redress this, the UK Government was given a substantial sum of money specifically to bring these Scottish crofters, and only these people, up to the same level as their European counterparts. What did Westminster do? It divided the pot of money up among ALL UK farmers, meaning that those for whom it was intended got far less than their due.

I know that Westminster was threatened with a fine for misuse of a grant, though I do not know if it was imposed, but if crofters are deciding where their best interests lie, perhaps they would be well advised to choose the Union that puts up money to ensure their fair treatment rather than the one that cheats them of their due.
L McGregor
Falkirk

IN his long letter (February 14), James MacDonald refers to the pre-Brexit promise to farmers by the Conservative farming minister, George Eustice. He promised that “the UK Government would continue to give farmers as much support – or perhaps even more – as they get now from Europe”.

Mr MacDonald’s letter tells us that a BBC editor reported that the same farming minister told a recent Oxford Farming Conference, despite the above-mentioned promise, that there will be no more subsidies after 2020.

A recent BBC Countryfile programme was filmed in New Zealand and its presenter, Adam Henson, made frequent reference to Brexit. He specifically used his questions to allow some New Zealand farmers to say how they coped after subsidies were withdrawn. Was the BBC acting as a fearmonger, as it has been accused of in parts of the media in this context, or has it been told to “prepare the ground” in the UK for the implementation of government policy of no more subsidies?

Either way, it’s incumbent on pro-independence supporters and media to help to get this message across to the farming community in Scotland – that they are not Butter Together!
Dennis White
Lanark

IN your edition of January 27, there was a letter from Carol Price of Aberdeen extolling the life of Gina Miller. In that letter, Ms Price repeats one of the many common errors regarding unsupported claims regarding “Westminster parliamentary sovereignty”. I re-read my research on the subject and have to say I see no changes relating to so-called Westminster sovereignty.

In order for any nation to aspire to be recognised as having a sovereign status, there requires to be a democratically agreed written constitution delineating the circumstances and conditions of that nation’s claim to sovereignty.

Given that the Westminster Parliament does not have a written constitution, any talk of parliamentary sovereignty is merely notional.

Within the nations of these British Islands there is only one nation with a democratically legitimately binding written constitution where the people are the sovereign constitutional authority: Scotland.
John J G McGill
Kilmarnock

IN Northern Ireland the main Unionists in the Commons bleat and whinge about austerity and cuts but are very happy to accept it in Stormont and support the Tories.

In Wales, Labour have no majority, are messing up the NHS and everything else, and face the grim prospect in future of a Tory and Ukip government where things will be ten times worse.

At least in Scotland we have no Ukip threat, but we have a nasty Scottish Tory opposition trying to scare people over independence yet refusing to say the dangers of Brexit will cause with inflation already soaring, and we have a Labour Party with nothing constructive to say about Scotland just more moaning about cuts her branch office in Westminster supported with their blue Tory cousins.

But at least we have an SNP government fighting in Westminster for Scotland and also for more powers. We shouldn’t have to with our so-called “Vow “powers we hear nothing about any more.

It’s high time Labour quit moaning. If they cared about Scotland they would support an independence vote for the people – or are they happy for 80,000 Scottish jobs to go due to a Westminster Tory Government we didn’t vote for? What’s it to be, Kezia?
Stephen Kelly
Motherwell