ALEX Rowley forgets another important change from the Labour-led Scottish Parliament in its early days, namely, the change in the franchise system in local government (Most Scots believe devolution has improved nation, The National, September 11). In those days Labour at Holyrood and the LibDems were continuing Donald Dewar’s point that devolution was not the end but the beginning of a process.
Yet Labour in Scotland have now stalled and the LibDems have shrivelled to being Westminsterites again. The Tories, the great opponents of devolution, now even deny the sovereignty of Holyrood at Westminster, and even in Holyrood one of their MSPs denied Holyrood’s rights!
“We need to leave the division of the past decade behind and build for the future”, says Rowley. That is Labour-speak for SNP-baaad and implying only the yoons have the right to represent the people and govern.
At the time of the Smith proceedings, Labour in Scotland fell short in its “building for the future proposals”. It still puts a Tory Westminster first and has now shrunk to third place in Scotland! Time to rethink fast, Mr Rowley. Perhaps Labour for Indy will start to shake out the yoonery in Labour in Scotland and refocus its endeavours. After all, Labour’s Better Together bedfellows, the Tories, are deep down anti-devolutionists and have been responsible for Labour in Scotland’s decline. What use is the 1707 Union to Labour in Scotland when it means Tory regimes at Westminster and now a right-wing Tory-led Brexit with power grab?
Alex Rowley missed the chance in his statement to accentuate that Scotland voted to remain in the EU. But then he is, in his political genes, an unreconstructed Westminsterite and a mere “branch office” lackey.
John Edgar
Stewarton
I WAS saddened to see the bleatings of Willie Rennie in today’s issue suggesting that senior police should be brought in from England to fill in during the present situation in Police Scotland (Call to draft in senior police from England, The National, September 11). Surely this is just another of the Unionist camp’s “too wee, too poor, too incapable” soundbites to try and do their best to keep the people of Scotland frightened of independence.
I am quite sure that we here in Scotland have a totally adequate resource in people, skills and experience available to us, to more than adequately deal with any matters arising.
I would go so far as to make the point that it is inappropriate for Scotland, with its legal system which is different from and independent of the rest of the United Kingdom, to fill any of these posts with anyone who is not either Scottish or already possessed of a good grounding in Scots law and its detail.
George M Mitchell
Sheriffmuir, Dunblane
MICHAEL Fallon, on the Andrew Marr Show, tells us that London is nearer North Korea than Los Angeles (Letters, September 11), implying that London is within reach of North Korean missiles. Needless to say, Faslane also comes within this category. Your correspondent Sandra Durning goes on to say that “those who fought to keep nuclear weapons in Scotland should now explain how they keep us safer than we would be without them”. Mr Fallon’s predecessor at the MoD, Philip Hammond, has already given us the explanation when speaking on Sky News, on February 2: “North Korea seem to think possessing a nuclear weapon makes them safe. In fact, it’s the opposite. Having a nuclear weapon makes them a target.”
Sandy Cheyne
Stonehaven
£490 MILLION to be squandered changing back to blue passports to restore British pride (Tories salivate over passport colour going back to blue, The National, September 11)?
Another waste of money we can ill afford in the nation of food banks.
Having long lost any pride in the shambles that is Britain, if Scotland fails to restore independence why shouldn’t I be able to renounce British citizenship in favour of remaining a citizen of the EU?
Jim Taylor
THE Treaty of Union of The Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England. This is the full title of the Treaty of 1707. The Jacobite risings are usually dubbed “rebellions” by the yoons. Scottish achievements and history are hijacked as “British” and “UK”. And so, too, the Treaty is misrepresented as an “act” for the purpose of subverting Scottish sovereignty. The only Act of Union is the one that took place between the so-called UK and Ireland in 1800. Not a single one of the 25 articles of the Treaty states that the sovereignty of Scotland is to be transferred to England or vice versa.
And yet right now the English regime – for that is what it is – is forcing through pretended repeal legislation of dubious legality on the strength of English votes (for Scottish laws) resting on a foreign tyrant Henry VIII, whose 16th-century acts have no validity in Scotland. Our own King James V will be turning in his grave – which is, appropriately, at Holyrood. Where is the Lord Advocate while our nation is being so blatantly violated?
That tyrannical Westminster regime does not represent Scotland. It does not speak for Scotland. I have nothing but contempt for their pretended legislation. The only repeal bill we Scots require is the one repealing the Treaty of Union.
Linda Horsburgh
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