I AM Daniel Harris, falsely labelled a Unionist by your reader Alistair Potter (Letters, February 20). I resent being labelled a Unionist. I voted for independence at the referendum. Again we have someone who can’t debate, so resorts to name-calling.

The term “Unionist” means Tory to some people. My Dad was a lamplighter and my mother worked on the conveyor belt at a chocolate factory when she left school at 14. Real dyed-in-the-wool Tories!

No Mr Potter, I think I am much older than you. When I decide which way to vote, I don’t follow the herd. Probably that is because of the broad life experiences I have had, starting in the early 1930s with evacuation to Canada as a child during World War Two. Witnessing at first hand what it was like to cross the Atlantic in both directions, for the merchant men and naval sailors who kept the food supplies and other essential freight, coming to the UK, from anywhere except Europe, at a heavy cost of human lives. There were no lorries queuing up at the English Channel, except for our brave fighting men.

READ MORE: Can’t the Unionists come up with a new argument against Scottish independence?

When I came back to Scotland at the age of 13, due to gaps in my schooling I was denied a senior secondary education. I left school at 15 with a meaningless piece of paper. Like thousands of my generation who had been affected by the war, I went to night school three night per week for years and spent many years in engineering, but by a once-in-a-lifetime chance I was seconded to Westminster. Based there, but went all over the UK working on a government grant scheme for industry in its broadest sense.

It was during that period that I learned about politics, and was taught the three headings used by governments. These are:

1. The Issue

2. The Background

3. The Line to Take

So I applied those rules the way I THINK the Spanish Government will respond if Scotland applies for EU membership. I have not, as Mr Potter has claimed, presupposed “that both Catalonia and Scotland [will] have become independent before they apply to join the EU”. I thought that was a given! We will have Cornwall applying for membership if that’s how it works.

So here’s how I see things progressing IF Scotland gains independence.

Scotland’s request lands on the desks of the Spanish Government. This is my view on how they will handle it:

1. The Issue

Scotland has gained its independence from the UK. The SNP government has applied for membership of the EU. All member states of the EU are now asked to vote on this issue.

2. The Background

The SNP has been keen for Scotland to be a member state of the EU for many years. However, prior to gaining independence the SNP publicly humiliated the Spanish Government on television, with its support for Catalonian dissidents and in particular Carla Ponsatí. This included court proceedings.

3. The Line To Take

If the Spanish Government supports this application from the SNP for Scotland’s membership of the EU, this could trigger more unrest in Catalonia, and indeed in the Basque region. It could also encourage nationalistic feelings to rise in other EU member states. “We therefore reject Scotland’s request for membership of the EU.”

So, Mr Potter, the Spanish Government won’t take up your suggestion that the Spanish Government will opt for a diplomatic solution. You have obviously forgotten the Spanish Government sacked the Spanish official who said “Spain will support Scotland’s application for EU membership”. He was a diplomat, not a politician. He had no right to say anything.

Daniel Harris
via email