‘THERE are worse things than losing an argument: There is winning an argument through over-simplification of the issues or dishonest mobilisation of bad arguments or non-facts” – Professor Raymond Tallis, philosopher and Debating Matters judge. That about sums up the UK Brexit debate for me. But we are where we are.

Somewhat disconcertingly, Mr Farage (currently Brexit Party) now sums up the current situation, stating that real Scots nationalists would not seek to remain in the EU as Scotland cannot be independent as part of the EU. Mr Jim Sillars, perhaps unsurprisingly to many, appears to support Mr Farage’s viewpoint.

The choice now for SNP members is whether to support the sense of pure nationalism of Mr Farage and Mr Sillars, for the people of Scotland to be as a nation state at the mercy of global corporate forces, or the elected First Minister’s Sturgeon’s civic nationalism, at the mercy of like-minded European nation states, buffering the effect of global corporate forces.

The thought of a Mr Johnson as UK PM, supported by Mr Farage and Mr Jim Sillars working together to thwart FM Sturgeon’s attempts to retain EU membership for the people of Scotland, although quite disconcerting, is perhaps reassuring in the sense that FM Sturgeon clearly must be on the right track for the people of Scotland.

Stephen Tingle

Greater Glasgow

I HAVE yet to see, from the leading candidates of the SNP or the Green party, any statement that is critical of the EU for its major failings over the last 10 years. These are: the austerity and cuts in public services it imposed on the people of Greece (and Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland before them) in the name of financial orthodoxy; the drive to open public services to private competition; and the total failure to do anything to stop the blatant tax-dodging by multinationals and rich individuals.

I’m sure I’m speaking for many thousands on the left in Scotland who either abstained, voted Leave or held their noses and voted Remain in Cameron’s deeply flawed referendum. All of us are appalled by the prospect of Scotland being represented by a party led by a xenophobic, money-grabbing stockbroker. However, that is not enough. If the SNP or the Greens want our votes on Thursday, they will need to call publicly for both a vote against the Brexit Party and the Tories and also pledge to campaign to change the nature of the EU on these key issues.

John Dennis

Dumfries

WHETHER Brexit happens or not, there must be an independence referendum. This nonsense that if Brexit is reversed then Scotland wouldn’t seek its independence makes no sense whatsoever. Brexit is only a symptom of all that is wrong with the UK. If Brexit is to be avoided are we supposed to ignore the treatment of Scotland throughout this whole fiasco and say we’ll give the UK another go – no chance! Scotland’s people, our parliament and our government have been ignored, ridiculed and sidelined through the whole Brexit shambles. We should be thankful that Brexit has opened the eyes of others to what the British establishment thinks about Scotland - we are simply a resource for them to plunder, they take our oil wealth and give us food banks. Scotland’s Independence does not rest on whether Brexit happens or not, if we genuinely want to create a fairer country then it wont happen as part of the UK, we need to take the full powers of a normal nation into our own hands and build a future for all Scots, a future free of food banks and a future that provides a decent lifestyle for all.

Cllr Kenny MacLaren

Paisley

HAVING just listened to Radio 4’s Any Questions, it strikes me not for the first time what an absolute gift the Brexit fiasco has been to so-called “small c” Conservatives like Anna Soubry. By condemning the extremism in both her former (Tory) party and Farage’s Brexit Party, she’s been able to recast herself as a fundamentally decent sort, a “moderate”, acculturated conservative bemoaning what has become of her former party and her beloved “Britain”.

A swatch at her voting record reveals that she voted for the bedroom tax on 15 out of 15 occasions, that between 2011-18 she voted 15 times against paying higher benefits over longer periods for those unable to work due to illness or disability, that during 2013 she voted five times against raising benefits at least in line with prices, and between 2012-16 she voted on no fewer than 51 occasions for a reduction in spending on social security – to cite just four examples of her eminently “moderate” and sensible politics. And she has stressed that she doesn’t regret voting for these or the countless other cruel cuts referred to as “austerity”.

In addition, she might signal her “tolerance” by condemning Islamophobic remarks made by Boris Johnson and the anti-immigrant rhetoric of Farage et al, yet I never once heard her speak out against the demonisation and scapegoating of people on out-of-work benefits by George Osborne et al – all that vile, divisive and harmful rhetoric deliberately deployed in order to justify the slashing of the safety net and the concomitant immiseration of some of the most vulnerable people in society.

The hypocrisy of Soubry and the other former Tory MPs in Change UK is truly sickening.

Mo Maclean

Glasgow

IT’S not a dilemma exactly, but what to do? I am by no means an SNPer and would normally vote Green these days, but in this instance, given that the EU election has become a default plebiscite and that it is probable that EU membership will be cut short, I shall vote SNP, the largest party in Scotland, in the hope that all who support Scottish independence will do the same.

I believe that will send an unambiguous message to Westminster. Sorry Greens.

Henrick Hauptmann

Buckie