I DESPAIR, feel like tearing my hair out all because of the front page of the Sunday National.
Ian Blackford in a bid to delay our exit from the EU in December. Why oh why does he do this? He and the SNP hierarchy spent endless amounts of time trying to save our English neighbours from the disaster of Brexit to no avail. It should have been none of their business.
The Scottish people voted to stay in Europe and if England wanted to leave that was up to them, misguided as they may be. If the path the SNP took prior to the General Election had succeeded, our chance of ever getting another referendum was gone forever. They left themselves hostage to fortune and were saved thanks to the Tories’ win in England.
READ MORE: SNP's Ian Blackford in bid for cross-party support to delay Brexit
I and many like me, who joined the SNP in the 1970s when were treated as oddballs and a success was saving a deposit, deserve better than this. Ian Blackford cannot stop the Brexit exit date unless the Tories vote for it. It won’t happen, so why embark on a strategy which is doomed to failure? Much better to get on the front foot now regarding the disaster that is to befall all of us after the Covid-19 pandemic is over.
The scribes in the UK media are already sharpening their pencils to tell us that without the Treasury’s support we were doomed. The SNP will again be defending. Totally unnecessary – the Scottish population like every other part of the UK pay taxes and virtually all of the money dispensed is borrowed, pushing the UK national debt over £2 Trillion. The UK Government’s mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic has caused many unnecessary deaths and left every one of us deeper in a UK national debt that will never be cleared. Great thing to leave to our grandchildren.
Westminster will never give up its hold on the last substantial colony it has. Playing their game will never get us the independent country people like me work for and crave. Sadly I feel that many of the people we elected to Westminster have been sucked into the system there. We have 50-plus MPs there, holding the government to account. Please. There is no democracy in London. We have the English government with the numbers necessary to do what England wants. Let’s get real. Stop playing the game to their rules and get on the front foot for a change. This independenista, for one, has had enough of futile headline-grabbing gestures.
Let’s get some edge to our politics in London. Get ahead of them and starting hitting where it hurts. They are there to be had.
David Smart
Brechin
LIKE most of your readers I am impatient for independence. I am, however, getting tired of those who argue for a big push at this time. The democratic argument is being won by slowly but surely convincing the No brigade that they will be better served running their own affairs.
The Scottish Government is doing this by showing real leadership and acting in the interests of the nation. This is leading to a grudging admission by many of my Unionist friends that we have a real leader at the helm. Any attempt in the current crisis to campaign forcefully would simply fuel the media to cry fanatic and dismiss us as zealots.
The only way to independence is a clear majority at the ballot box.
Colin Harvey
Kirkintilloch
WITH a new opinion poll predicting an overall majority for independence-supporting parties
at Holyrood next year, now is emphatically not the time to stop campaigning for indy. To be guilty of mixing my metaphors, we need to strike while the iron is hot and we have the wind in our sails. There are severe restrictions on what can be done at present, because of the Covid-19 lockdown, but one way we could publicise the case for independence is by taking en masse to social media.
READ MORE: Scottish Government more trusted than UK to tackle coronavirus
Even opponents in Better Together agreed that during campaigning for the 2014 independence referendum, the Yes side were more active and effective by far on social media than they were. Let’s all get posting, tweeting etc about the benefits of being a normal country again and – just as important – about the drawbacks of being part of the UK. Let’s get some conversations going with undecideds and even with receptive opponents.
Peter Swain
Dunbar
THE YouGov and Survation polls on Friday confirm not only a surge to the SNP but also the growing popularity of our First Minister. Trust in politics is invaluable, and what this crisis has shown again is our First Minister, as well as the SNP more generally, connecting with others and conveying the message in an honest and compassionate way.
This is pleasing for a range of reasons but significantly, it points towards an overall SNP majority in 2021, paving the way for a second independence referendum.
Let this be a clear and unequivocal message to the doubters and critics within our own movement. The message around independence is important but the messenger is absolutely crucial. Those yet to be convinced by independence need to be to able trust the person that is sharing their vision of a better, fairer and more equal society. Nicola Sturgeon is the independence movement’s best chance of delivering this. Get behind her and the SNP.
Gary Hogarth
Edinburgh
I SEE that when Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced his success in reaching his target of 100,000 Covid-19 tests a day by April 30, he said the achievement was “incredible”. How right he was!
If he had announced figures for April 31, 32, or 33 at the same time, they would not have been any more (in)credible. We are now in Wonderland, where there are two parallel lines of truth – credible medical figures and facts, and incredible political figures and facts.
Joe Farrell
Glasgow
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