VERY occasionally you open The National at its letters page and just despair. Tuesday was one of these days. The bold headline read “Swinney’s plan makes absolute sense to me”. What followed was a lengthy letter from a Logan Unwin, who signs himself a “North-east SNP activist”.
In essence it is a plea for more of the same. A plea for at least five more years of managing, and often failing to manage, Donald Dewar’s devolution trap. A plea to allow the SNP to cling to power and beg our Westminster betters and masters for another referendum in the sure and certain knowledge that they will just say no. A plea that will see Mr Unwin having to remain an SNP activist for the foreseeable future – possibly for the rest of his life.
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Mr Unwin claims that John Swinney’s leadership has “brought a degree of honesty back to the independence movement”, which he thinks has been “sadly lacking over recent years”. This is a little odd, as Mr Unwin was an enthusiastic supporter of the former First Minister Humza Yousaf appearing in support of him in social media posts.
As is usual in support of the Holyrood status quo, Mr Unwin details the usual list of “free” stuff. Prescriptions, baby boxes, bus passes etc etc. This list, paid for by taxation, did not impress the electorate in July 2024 at the UK General Election and will not impress them much more in May 2026. Is this the best we can do?
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The most telling aspect of Mr Unwin’s case is the sentence “How do we achieve independence? In a large part, the process is not as important as people think. Certainly not important enough to waste all our time and energy debating”.
If we have no idea of the process, how in God’s name we will never reach the end result?
Glenda Burns
Glasgow
IF Mr Swinney thinks that Westminster will grant a Section 30 if we get a majority of SNP MSPs next year, he is either delusional or he’s taking the independent movement for mugs.
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If the situation after the election is just one short of a SNP majority, Westminster will use it as clear evidence of Scotland not wanting or being interested in independence even if Alba, Greens or any other pro-independence party get elected John Swinney has stated that only SNP MSPs will count. Why? Is he going to ignore other parties that want independence for the sake of his ego?
We need all the help we can muster in 2026. Every pro-independence MSP must count towards a majority and John Swinney must state that loud and clear and not give Westminster another stick to beat us with.
M McDermott
Old Kilpatrick
FOLLOWING comments on The National website attacking John Swinney and the SNP leadership in general, I decided to ask these critics just what, exactly, was the workable, creditable alternative plan they had to achieve independence for Scotland.
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After that I was subject to some highly personal abuse, questioning my intelligence, character, judgement and this did indeed include swearing. Nonetheless, not one of these persons could quote or tell me what alternative plans they had. True, there was one suggestion, that of Holyrood declaring UDI. However, as I did point out, this was hardly a resounding success for Ian Smith and his government, I doubt it would work for Scotland.
I may well have kicked over a hornet’s nest for asking such questions, but at the end of the day I have still to hear just what, exactly, an alternative plan to that suggested by the SNP leadership is. Which rather proves my point, I think, that those who can do, and those who can’t criticise.
Andrew Haddow
Glasgow
TONY Kime’s letter highlighting and listing many of the SNP’s achievements in government should be pinned up in every MSP’s constituency office as a reminder to visiting constituents and ourselves of the many achievements of the SNP in government. Over the next nine months of campaigning, we should never forget those achievements and as the government, the SNP should concentrate on improving the services of "devolved matters" which we have powers over. Yes, we must continue to highlight how much Scotland is being short-changed by Labour at Westminster, but we must campaign on the positives of our achievements.
Catriona C Clark
Falkirk
WHAT next? Since the Labour government has increased the tax on employers, some small businesses can’t make a profit. The extra tax in some cases amounts to their profit margin. They have to make cuts or go out of business. Public-sector bodies – NHS, schools, universities etc – are worse off. So much for Labour wanting to increase productivity and create employment.
Let’s face it, the UK is broke, £2 trillion in debt, and that will never be paid off unless something radical is done. Since a lot of the debt is owed to ourselves, the Bank of England, who just printed it, “funny money,” could it be written off? Either way, what a mess.
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This all stems from the Thatcher privatisation of all the country’s assets. Also, Blair entering into illegal wars trying to punch above our weight side by side with the USA. Either way, we need a total rethink. The UK is not a superpower. The sooner we realise that, the better. Westminster need to live within their means and stop wasting billions.
Meanwhile, Scotland has the answer for ourselves with independence. Take control of all our assets and run our country the way it should be for the benefit of all in Scotland.
Herbert Petrie
Dyce, Aberdeen
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