UNDERSTANDABLY, independence supporters who voted to leave the EU are in a quandary over where to put their cross next Thursday. What do they prioritise? Independence from the Union or Europe?

Scotland has the best chance its ever had to break free from this stifling, unequal Union. The opportunity may not come again for decades, if ever. If we miss this moment then there’s little doubt Westminster will move to dismantle the Scottish Parliament and to destroy the roots of self-determination.

There’s no point in trying to change the minds of Brexit supporters – if they’ve remained committed thus far then there’s no turning them – but if they are also independence supporters then I implore them to give that priority.

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An independent Scotland will need the recognition, stability and support of the EU in its early years. rUK will not be a friendly neighbour: Westminister will not want to see Scotland flourish, it will not want to see us succeed. It will put every obstacle in our way.

The EU will provide us with immediate trading partners. Britain, out of the EU, will try to mop up deals with other countries, mainly America. It could even, if it felt threatened by a thriving country on its doorstep, pressure others to exclude Scotland. Trump would, no doubt, be quite amenable to assisting his friend Boris in this way.

The EU needs reforming, but so does Westminster. We have more chance of changing the EU from within than we’ll ever have of changing Westminster. Just look at the way in which our SNP MPs have been scorned, disrespected and ignored in the House of Commons, not just by English MPs but also, to their shame, by Scottish Tories. They insult the Scottish people when they try to belittle our elected representatives. Can you imagine the EU, for all its faults, treating a member state in that way?

An independent Scotland will be a progressive country, a country where inequality has no place; a small country with big ideas.

Once established, we may choose then whether to remain in the EU and use our influence and example to create a partnership less bound by bureaucracy, more efficient, less profligate, or we may choose to leave and make other alliances. Whatever we decide, it will be Scotland that makes the decision, not Westminster.

And so on December 12, whatever your feelings about the EU, make independence from the Union your priority. Choose Scotland first, and vote for the party that always puts Scotland first.

Pauline Taylor
Elgin

DURING Tuesday’s leaders debate on STV one very revealing and somewhat worrying remark was made by Jackson Carlaw, the leader of the Scottish Tories.

He said that the Catalan independence referendum was illegal, a claim invented by the Spanish dictatorship which he and his party obviously endorse. What worries me is that this draconian stand, declaring this referendum illegal, and its subsequent result for independence also illegal, confirms to me that Mr Carlaw has let the cat out of the bag, revealing that this would also be Tory policy regarding a future Scottish referendum, and a subsequent Yes vote.

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Will they, like the Spanish, send in storm troopers to bludgeon voters at the polling booth, and suppress a legitimate democratic function? Would they send in an army to suppress the democratic will of the Scots in their desire to be a normal, free and independent country?

Getting back to the question of whether something is legal or not, we must look at that other great word “justice”. The Holocaust was not justice, but it was argued by the Nazis on trial at Nuremberg that the exterminations were quiet legitimate, and legal, as they were only carrying out laws passed by their legitimate government. In this case the law contained no justice.

The Tories and their Labour and LibDem Unionist allies would stoop to any depths to keep a grip on wealthy Scotland. May I quote again the words of Jimmy Reid, when he said their “was no Union”as the people had no voting rights.

The Union couldn’t legally go ahead in 1707 until the 1705 Alien Act, declaring all Scots aliens, was repealed. The English delegation agreed, and promised to do this, to make the Union legal, as the two acts of parliament contradicted each other. This was the first broken promise of the English, as by not repealing the Alien Act for another 170 years they made the Act of Union unworkable, and therefore illegal.

So, Mr Carlaw, put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Iain Ramsay
Greenock

NATO, an alliance of about one-seventh of the world’s countries, spends one half of the world’s defence expenditure and has half the world’s GDP. Yet Trump, supported by the UK, demands that Nato spends even more money. Just who or what is the “enemy”, and what are “they” spending?

Nick Dekker
Cumbernauld

THE origins of Nato lie in the immediate situation after World War Two. The threat from the Soviet Union after the mutual “partition” of Europe at Yalta by Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin into spheres of interest was the original raison d’etre, with the aim to suppress any fascist aftershocks.

It has never reshaped a relationship with Russia post-Soviet Union after Gorbachev’s two words Glasnost and Perestroika!

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Now the inconsistencies and contradictions and strategic blunders in recent years are to the fore. The unstable tactics aided by erratic tweets and inane outbursts by the current President of the US are an additional mix into the mælstrom.

The key spheres of interest now worldwide are China, USA, Europe (minus the UK) and Russia. Nato is a North Atlantic phenomenon. Time for a reorientation!

John Edgar
Kilmaurs