MAGNUS Linklater’s comments that the SNP are making non-UK EU citizens like myself feel insecure is far from reality (FM blamed for uncertainty over Brexit ... seriously, August 7).

If he had taken some time to speak to some of us he would have learned that the SNP have been incredibly supportive to us. In fact I would feel a lot more insecure about the whole Brexit fiasco if it wasn’t for people like Ian Blackford and Nicola Sturgeon.

I emailed Ian the morning after the EU referendum, and he phoned me within hours to tell me that I would always be welcome to live in Scotland and to reassure me that he and the SNP would do everything necessary and within their power to make this happen.

Later that day I also received an email from Nicola Sturgeon, which was directed to all non-UK EU citizens in Scotland, where she reassured us that the Scottish Government will do all within in their power to make sure that people like me will be able to remain in Scotland indefinitely.

Then SNP have upheld that promise. They have and still are regularly pressing for continued rights of all non-UK EU citizens. They are actively looking for Scotland to be able to have it own immigration policies which would no doubt provide a far better deal for people like me than the “settled status” the UK Government is currently offering.

I want to use this opportunity to thank the SNP publicly for all the support they have shown me and my fellow non-UK EU citizens who live in Scotland. Likewise I want to extend that thanks also to the Scottish Greens, The National and all other parties, organisations and individuals (too many to list here) that have offered their help and support. Without you all I – and I am sure many others in my position – would be far worse off.

Maarten de Vries
Munlochy

READ MORE: A former Scotsman editor blames Nicola Sturgeon for Brexit uncertainty

I FIND it difficult to believe our Westminister Tory negotiators are as idiotic as they seem. Perhaps there’s a hidden agenda?

For many year we’ve been “the unsinkable aircraft carrier” of the USA and even today there’s a significant air force and intelligence presence in England. In Scotland we have Faslane, “our” nuclear base for Trident. Since we can’t fire a nuclear missile without US consent, maybe we should count it as a US base by proxy.

If the aim of the Brexit team is to ditch the EU, whose arms are they happy to fall into? Do they see themselves better off in trade deals with the USA? After all they won’t be the ones eating chlorinated chicken and they certainly don’t care if the NHS is “sold” to the US.

Catriona Grigg
Embo

NOT content with re-writing European post-war history, David Crines (Letters, August 8) now seeks to re-write the present.

Who is offering an independent Scottish currency “pegged” to the pound, and when/where did I say it is a mistake?

When someone who is accused of floundering not only believes he is being compared to a fish, but considers it as a compliment, it is obvious any hope of having a sensible, let alone an intelligent or informed, discussion would be futile.

My hope still remains, however, that some day some Yes/Remainer will explain why, if Scotland cannot be truly independent without its own currency and control of monetary policy, members of the eurozone can be independent when they have neither their own currency nor control of monetary policy.

Jim Fairlie
Crieff

READ MORE: Letters: The EU’s sovereignty is limited and clearly defined

WHILE the current internal wrangles at the forefront of the Labour party (anti-Semitism) and the Conservative party (Islamophobia) are serious issues, they have successfully diverted headlines away from Brexit and the cliff-edge position the country is in if no deal is secured. As I write we are 233 days from exiting the EU and for 41 of those days our MPs are on holiday!

As we now know, exiting the EU will have devastating consequences for us all, affecting our daily lives. Some of those consequences will be future import/export deals, food labelling, subsidies for our farmers, the fishing industry, availability of medicines, the list could go on.

Then there is the issue of free movement, which due to uncertainly has seen devastating consequences this year for our fruit farmers/producers, unable to secure enough labour to pick the harvest, and only this week we have had the suggestion that many women could be forced out of the workplace to take up caring roles as a result of shortages of European workers in the sector.

Internal wrangling within the two main political parties at Westminster needs to be resolved with urgency, but so does a deal on Brexit for the future of so many aspects of our daily lives. Theresa May on her appointment as PM committed herself and her government to a Brexit that will work for us all. To date we have only seen a Brexit shambles, working for no-one, and time is running out.

Catriona C Clark
Falkirk