OK, call me a conspiracy theorist, but could this be a monumental gamble Theresa May has engineered centred around her own self-belief?

She has secured a year minimum, in theory. In the process, she has demolished Boris, Rees-Mogg and the ERG group, either for good or for the short term (meaning her term). She will be regarded as having “saved” rUK from the betrayers and traitors (that’s includes us) who stood against her and the will of the people post-EUref.

She will resolutely deny us the legal route to indyref2, claiming it’s for the benefit of the country as a whole, post Brexit. The Brexit she “won”. Her country, rUK, not mine. That country evidences more and more inward-looking, petty nationalism and the rule of Tory ideology at all costs. That includes actions resulting in being in contempt of Parliament, a first in Westminster’s history.

As a country that voted to Remain, Scotland is not against those who voted to Leave. We are a country that recognises the political, social, economic diversity of all our population. And that country seeks self-determination for all our people. We have to succeed for all. The alternative is too grim to contemplate.

Selma Rahman
Edinburgh

TWO hundred Tories keep one of the worst Prime Ministers and most obnoxious Home Secretaries in charge of our destiny for another year.

Having deceived not only them, but the whole of the UK, with alarming frequency, this daughter of the manse is a Prime example of all that is rotten with Westminster governance.

The article by Angus MacNeil MP and long letter by Julia Pannell in Wednesday’s edition have to be taken on board by the SNP hierarchy. Independence has to be their focus. They are endangering this with their obsession with the EU. The fight is with the corrupt UK. Concentrate your troops on that. Win the Battle of Britain, leave the Burach in Brussels for another day.

Sandy Coghill
Isle of Skye

ALL encouragement to Western Isles MP Angus Brendan MacNeil in his call for the SNP leadership to adopt a more pragmatic approach to Scotland’s future relationship with the EU (The SNP must focus on independence – not stopping Brexit, December 12). Interestingly this was echoed by your correspondents, Alan Magnus Bennett and Julia Pannell.

It is fundamental that the current SNP leadership moves out of its Byres Road comfort zone and listens to and engages with the significant numbers of Yexiteers who are both pro-Leave and pro-Yes. Tony Blair arrogantly ignored the misgivings of traditional Labour voters about aspects of the New Labour project. To dismiss Yexiteers as right-wing dupes is neither accurate nor sensible politics.

Unlike Kenny MacAskill I see no virtue in saving England from Brexit as they have a very legitimate right to leave the EU if they wish. However, nationalists have a moral duty to do what is right for Scotland, and as Angus MacNeil has stated, that is to promote independence as the political priority, not to win plaudits in The Guardian by mistakingly backing a People’s Vote.

Cllr Andy Doig (Independent)
Renfrewshire Council

I COMPLETELY agree with Angus MacNeil’s comment in Wednesday’s paper. The way forward for our nation is a second independence referendum, and that should now be the main focus of the SNP and all of us who hold Scotland’s best interests at heart.

Brexit is nothing more than a red herring which merely illustrates how Westminster functions as a black hole from which it is impossible for good governance to emanate.

May I also raise my hat to Malcolm Parkin for his excellent letter regarding the creation of a debt-free public currency via a Scottish Central Bank. Such ideas are an inspiration for the future of a free and independent Scotland.

Solomon Steinbett
Glasgow

HOW good to see Malcolm Parkins’s excellent letter on Wednesday. For far too long our banks have been able to print “money” to service their current fractional reserve banking system and to reward their directors. As money is only a trading facilitator and by itself has no real value, it’s high time we got back to a solid relationship whereby the money in circulation reflects the real value of our country’s goods and services.

This means a system by which the government takes control of monetary supply and only allows printing of new money by banks to produce more real value goods and services. This system should also operate “full reserve” banking principles whereby banks can only lend money which they have invested in them – quite simply the model of good house-keeping – and not as in current banking practice, which allows the printing of and lending of money produced out of nothing and which has no tangible goods or services value.

If allowed to continue, this latter ultra-speculative practice will inevitably lead to repeated crashes as it’s no more than a multi-national game funded by freely produced toy money which has no real value – but each time the crash comes it's not the neoliberal speculators who pay for their mess, it’s the ordinary taxpayer.

Time to look to a full reserve Scottish Bank which only prints money to fund specific goods and services projects with the approval of its Scottish Government.

James Dippie
Dalry

IF any further proof was needed that Theresa May is not competent to lead a parish council, let alone this disunited Kingdom, it was her massively ill-judged, rambling rehash of her General Election manifesto (and we know how well that turned out for her) in Downing Street on Wednesday morning.

What a shambles, but the good news is that independence just took another giant step closer.

David Roche
Perth