WHILE independence will have its difficulties in the short term, they are nothing compared with what we are being rushed towards.
We will be condemning our children and grandchildren to poor food and ecological standards, privatised health services and more, if we don’t take decisive action to gain independence soon.
While the SNP in government are correctly concentrating on the pandemic, the UK Government are progressing strategies to stop Scottish independence. If you haven’t done so I urge you to read Ruth Wishart’s eye opening article “The Yes movement ignores at its peril the signals Tories are sending out” (National, August 17).
One point covered is what the UK Government refers to as their new “hubs” being built in Edinburgh and Glasgow, effectively the Offices of the Colonial Power with some 3000 civil servants and several government departments.
The UK Government will also continue to take steps to make independence even more difficult in the future. They will work on making us feel more dependent while stealing our resources and trying to retain their deluded notion of a “Great” Britain.
In addition to any other obstacles they will put in place, an increasingly obvious benefit of Brexit to the UK Government is producing additional obstacles to Scottish independence in the future.
READ MORE: 'Lovely space for indy demos': Reactions to the new Scotland Office building
Once the UK single market reduces standards, Scotland’s trade with the EU will reduce further. This will make us more dependent on UK markets, and these reduced standards would have to be reversed if we wanted to trade with the EU and others as an independent Scotland in the future. Also, as Ros Curwood points out (Website Comments, National August 18), if Scotland subsequently becomes independent and breaches UK trade deals with the USA and others by raising standards and reversing health service privatisation for example, these could result in very big financial costs.
For all these reasons we need to act with a definite strategy to gain independence soon.
If the SNP and all other pro-independence parties indicate clearly to the electorate in their manifestos for the 2021 Holyrood election, which should ideally be held under the scrutiny of international monitors, that a majority number of votes for pro-independence parties would be a vote to support a declaration of Scottish independence, with elections for a new Scottish Government held soon after, then that would be democratic and ensure no vote would be wasted. Pro-independence activists would be able to get behind such a strategy in strength similar to the 2014 referendum.
This proposal may seem extreme, but the circumstances are extreme.
Jim Stamper
Bearsden
REGARDING the letter from Jim Daly of Edinburgh suggesting that Boris Johnson might condescend to allow a referendum, but under his rules (Letters, August 20).
This reminds me of the 1979 referendum where George Cunningham, a Scottish MP, managed to get an act passed whereby 40% of the “Electorate” had to vote Yes!
This meant that anyone on the voters role who had died, plus those who did not vote, were taken to have voted NO! The YES vote got over 50%, but since only 34% of those who could do, actually voted, this was was deemed a victory for the NOs and put devolution back for another 20 years.
What rules might Johnson come up with if he agrees?
Hamish MacQueen
Glasgow
AS we all know, English votes took Britain out of the European Union. The reason? To restore the power of parliament and Britain’s sovereignty. But what have we got? In turn we have a PM who is more elusive than the scarlet pimpernel.
Despite the current crises we have a parliament that is not meeting and not being held to account. The coronavirus is worsening, the economy in recession, unemployment rising, the gap between privileged and poverty widening, the exam results in chaos, unemployment rising, Brexit talks in stalemate, bolstering of the House of Lords, Union jacking, the lies, the continued isolation of Scotland from decision making and a plot to undermine Holyrood’s powers even further.
All with no opportunity to challenge as Parliament is closed!
Even when it is open, Boris has always avoided parliamentary questions. So his absence should not be a surprise. Britain is now more like a dictatorship and Boris the pseudo-president. Major decisions are being made without scrutiny. He has now abolished England’s public health authority. So it’s not just Scotland he is running roughshod over. The English voters are also being marginalised. It’s clearly dangerous times.
READ MORE: The trick to securing a No in indyref2? Rig the vote
Where will he stop? We hear that Russia and China have the ability to undermine governments elections and internal securities. Global voting fraud is on the increase. The people of Belarus are protesting in regard to a rigged election.
With the expected SNP victory at the pending Holyrood elections and upsurge in favour of a referendum, should we now expect such interference from Westminster?
Last time round Ruth knew the details regarding postal votes before they were officially announced!
Fake news or not we are vulnerable to an unscrupulous government who clearly do not believe in parliamentary democracy.
So I do hope The Scottish Government have all angles covered with regard the next election and making all precautions from subterfuge and interference.
It is truly sad and dangerous times globally and within Britain. We most certainly need to break away.
Robin MacLean
Fort Augustus
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel