WITH all due respect to Lesley Riddoch, I for one remain unconvinced by her impassioned plea for both the SNP’s rank and file and the wider Yes movement to get behind the Scottish Government’s current support for a so-called People’s Vote on Brexit as articulated in her article “Support for People’s Vote could actually drive No voters to back indy” (November 1).

For a start this seems to me to be little more than an extension of the failed strategy religiously pursued by the First Minister and her colleagues since the 2016 European referendum in which a Scottish majority decisively voted to Remain in the EU, while across the UK there was a clear – if relatively narrow – majority for Leaving the EU.

In these circumstances it was no doubt worth a shot for the First Minister and her colleagues to try to exploit the situation in the context of the SNP’s ongoing campaign for independence. But as the months – and now two and a half years – have passed it has become increasingly obvious that this strategy simply isn’t working. There has been no significant or sustained increase in support for independence, as tracked in the public opinion polls – bar the odd formerly No-voting celebrity, some of whom are not even resident in Scotland.

The collective party leadership’s strategy was flawed on at least two counts. Firstly, it failed to take account of the fact that the Scottish majority for Remain was not just composed of pro-indy supporters but also contained many pro-Union supporters, including the leaders of the three main Unionist parties represented in the Scottish Parliament. That in itself should have set the alarm bells ringing.

Secondly, there was a large minority of more than one million Scots who voted to Leave the EU – which according to some reliable estimates included one-third of pro-indy supporters. What sort of sense does it make to embark on a second independence campaign which is guaranteed to divide our own supporters – never mind the rest of the electorate, some of whom we must win over if we are ever to achieve the victory we seek?

It is nevertheless to Riddoch’s credit that despite her own support for EU membership she is realistic enough to anticipate that the campaign for a People’s Vote is unlikely to be successful in the face of Tory and maybe even Labour opposition.

On the other hand, her expectation that SNP backing for the People’s Vote would eventually be rewarded by increasing support for independence seems to be based more on wishful thinking than on rigorous analysis.

She concludes by challenging the SNP’s Westminster representatives to be “superhumanly constructive and co-operative” , and while there may be some circumstances in which this would be an appropriate role for them to adopt – in, for example, negotiating the exact terms of independence in the aftermath of a Yes vote – they must also remember that the justification for their continuing presence in Westminster is not, as Winnie Ewing pointed out many years ago, “to settle in but to settle up”.

Ian O. Bayne
Glasgow

SOME politicians and commentators have criticised the SNP positioning itself firmly behind another EU referendum. They say we should concentrate on independence. Why should we help out England?

These arguments are easy to counter. Scottish independence will succeed all the better if we don’t have an embittered and impoverished neighbour. And, with most of us supporting an independent Scotland in Europe, it would be hypocrisy to ignore the plight our fellow pro-Europeans south of Gretna.

And then there is the so-called possibility of a ‘confirmatory’ referendum as threatened by LibDem leader Vince Cable. This only needs a second or two of scrutiny. Holyrood will initiate any Scotland-only referendums. If Yes wins indyref2 by a clear majority, we’ll have the democratic equivalent of a velvet divorce. If it’s close, the Unionists will doubtless fight on like ferrets but they won’t get another referendum unless they take power. If the current bunch of Unionists take power in Scotland, scramble for the exits! Vince’s confirmatory referendum is a red herring.

The SNP fired the starting gun on indyref2 following their Westminster landslide victory in 2015. But the race was postponed for a year following the Tory resurgence in the 2016 election.

Think on it for a second; there are more Scots Tory MPs propping up May’s calamitous Brexit than their are DUP MPs. And polls show that support for independence still hovers around (normally just below) 50%. You would really have thought we would be in a big majority by now.

It may be unpalatable but we Scots – not our government – are to blame for us not being independent already. Timidity, deference or ignorance cost us in 2014. They’re costing us still when the case for independence is stronger than at any time in the SNP’s history.

We need to stop the carping the ‘I know best’ attitude and just patiently campaign for independence. We won’t persuade anyone to switch while we’re divided. So cut the SNP some slack – they haven’t taken their eye off the main prize at all. A referendum called now would be lost in the Brexit chaos. Clarity over Brexit or at least a calmer political environment is needed before we make our next big move. In the meantime let’s halt the Brexit juggernaut if we can.

David Crines
Hamilton

THE demand for a second EU referendum has come about purely because of the lies and absence of a plan by the Leave campaign.

This could not be used as a precedent for a second indyref2 because there will be no lies and there will be a plan.

Dennis White
Blackwood