THE past couple of days have highlighted the contempt in which Scotland is held by British nationalist politicians. All the promises of the infamous Vow of 2014 have been abandoned.

The shambolic Brexit debate severely limited the time allowed to discuss the implications Brexit would have on Scotland’s devolved parliament, allowing only 15 minutes to discuss the Tory power grab – 15 minutes which were then taken up by a Tory minister. Contrast this with 1998 when the Scottish Parliament Bill took more than 350 days to debate within the House of Commons.

This isn’t some hypothetical situation – this is the Tory Government in Westminster grabbing powers over farming, fishing, the environment, food standards and a host of other devolved issues. Scotland’s ban on genetically modified organisms could go, as could our blocking of fracking. It will be up to a Tory minister in London as to how these, and many other, issues will be decided.

And when the SNP’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, asked the Speaker what options were available (referring to Scotland, devolution and the lack of debate) a Tory MP – Ian Liddell-Grainger – shouted out “suicide”! That is the contempt in which our representatives, and in turn the people of Scotland, are held by the British nationalists within Westminster.

The latest fiasco of the Speaker refusing to allow a division (vote) during Prime Minister’s Questions, which sparked the walkout of the SNP (the third-largest party at Westminster), is treated as merely a stunt.

Democracy is under attack. Scotland, which hasn’t elected a majority of Tories since 1955, is about to see its Parliament over-ruled by Westminster.

And what of Labour and the LibDems? As expected, the Labour MPs sat on their hands and abstained – they sat back and let the Tories do as they wished – again! Corbyn is no saviour for the working class in either Scotland or the UK; he is no more than a Tory stooge, happy to play the role of opposition leader without having to oppose their policies! As for the LibDems, surely the most bizarre reason for not backing the SNP’s defence of the Scottish Parliament was given by Jo Swinson, who claimed she was abstaining from the vote because she couldn’t support the motion of the power grab as the Scottish Parliament was against it but couldn’t vote against it as it would mean denying the Welsh Assembly what it wanted! In case Jo Swinson has forgotten, she is the MP for East Dunbartonshire, yet she seems to have more concern about what people in Wales want rather than her own constituents.

With devolution now in its death throes, it’s time to up the campaigning to dissolve the Union. The SNP have launched a petition to protect the powers of the Scottish Parliament and I would encourage everyone to sign this, as well as getting involved in your local campaigns to persuade more voters that devolution is dead – we need our independence now!
Cllr Kenny MacLaren
Paisley

THE Westminster shenanigans of the past 48 hours leave no doubt in my mind that the wishes and aspirations of the Scottish people and their elected representatives do not matter one jot to the UK Unionist parties. What is particularly galling is the reprehensible behaviour of the Scottish MPs of the Labour, Conservative and LibDem parties who abstained in a series of crucial Brexit votes, rather than stand up to protect the majority of Scottish voters who chose Remain, or to oppose the blatant power grab on Holyrood’s devolved areas of responsibility.

Of these malcontents, we must single out the Scottish Labour Party for particular criticism. The Holyrood group of Labour MSPs supported the resistance to the power grab and supported the decision to withhold a Legislative Consent Motion. Yet, cometh the vote in Westminster, the seven Scottish Labour MPs promptly turned turtle and ignored the actions of their MSPs in Holyrood through a series of cowardly abstentions and cringeworthy filibustering.

We now know for certain that the Labour MSPs at Holyrood are indeed very much a “branch office” of their masters down south and when it comes to putting the interests of Scotland first, they fail on every count.

Who can ever forget the mantra of Better Together in 2014 when they bombarded us with the ironic catchphrase, “Don’t Leave ... Lead”. Well, we didn’t leave (sadly) and look where it has got us. As far as the Scottish Unionist parties at Westminster are concerned, Scotland simply doesn’t matter. The only time they come running with a metaphorical bunch of flowers from the local garage is when we look as though we might actually stand up to them and leave.

We surely don’t need any more evidence of Scotland’s lowly place in this dysfunctional Union. It is time for us to put in motion the mechanism by which Scotland can once again vote on the opportunity for us to gain the same rights of self-determination as any other sovereign nation on Earth. No country would put up with what we been subjected to in recent years. The Vow promised us the strongest devolved parliament in the world, the nearest we could get to complete federalism, basically “Home Rule”. Aye, right!

It is now time for Scotland to wake up and smell the coffee. Westminster holds us in total contempt. We have no hope of shaping a better future for Scotland within the confines of this corrupt and one-sided Union. It is time for us to leave.

We should, of course, prepare ourselves for Project Fear 2, which will probably be even more belligerent than the last one. However, I am confident that, in the words of The Who, we “won’t get fooled again”.
Alan Carroll
Glasgow

SURELY Wednesday, June 13, 2018, should go down as day one of the new independent Scotland. Well done to Ian Blackford for doing what he did, and what was very necessary, in the political situation in which we find ourselves as a nation.

The despicable actions of the Tory Westminster Government have been well documented in these pages and do not require restating here, but have to be shown loud and clear for all to see. Well done also to the entire contingent of SNP members for following him out.

The impartial reputation of the Speaker of the House would also have come out of all this brouhaha in much better shape if he had not been seen to be sporting a rather sneering aspect on his face, which I am sure indicated to many watching where his real innermost feelings lay.

It is now three weeks since the publication of the Growth Commission report. During the intervening time since then a lot of opinions have been expressed both for and against the various items mentioned in the report, and a lot of hot air generated. It is of course absolutely right that everyone has the opportunity to make their views known, whatever they are. It is, however, equally important to remember that is a document for discussion amongst people with the same aim in view – namely the achievement of independence for our country. It follows from that that the language used by all sides should, while giving one’s own point of view, always be respectful of the other side’s opinion, because at the end of the day we will all have to make compromises. This should apply at all levels from the highest at the top of the political tree down to the lowest at the very local and conversational level. Then success will be ours.

It has also to be remembered that whatever the timescale involved, it will be the SNP government at Holyrood who will have to carry through the not inconsiderable amount of work which will be necessary just to set up the actual government of an independent state. When the Brexit referendum was held it was really worrying to see just how many voters appeared to imagine that come Monday we would be out and that would be it!

Creating the structure of a new Scottish Government, will take several years, of which some will be difficult. The main consideration of many is, quite rightly the question of currency and the use, or not, of the pound sterling. Although I personally have been against it, there is no doubt that the use of the pound as we know it would be necessary at least until the first few years of the new government had been achieved. After that, a realistic decision could be taken for the way forward.

Other headlines which have been heatedly debated are all, for the time being, irrelevant. Whether we want to be in the European Union, in some other European-related system, or something completely different. Whether some form of royal family continuation as head of state, or whether it should be an elected president. These are all things which can and will be decided by our Holyrood Parliament once the goal has been achieved. The one overriding requirement is that we get the Yes vote.

One final point. The SNP should be ready to fight a General Election if it were to come upon us suddenly, with a much more strongly put case than we saw the last time. I wonder also if our new depute leader of the SNP will be able to find a meaningful role for the two unsuccessful candidates in the recent election, who I am sure would bring very worthwhile help with the ongoing campaign.
George M Mitchell
Dunblane

I’VE just signed the SNP petition. If the UK Government treated Scots MPs with a little respect, had made a pretence of listening and explained why, then it might not have been so bad. The Tory spoke and the Scots MPs did not get to utter a word. Job done; sit down quietly and accept what your master tells you.

Maybe not! We already know why it was done; they want unrestricted power to trade away our fishing, the agreement that Scotch whisky can only be made in Scotland and everything else in an attempt to grab on to any trade deal they can cobble together. Sign the petition at bit.ly/SNPpetition
DS Blackwood
Helensburgh