I DON’T think Michael Gove is expecting the referendum to go ahead. I think he is just trying to make trouble. He wants people who have opted out of living in Scotland by moving to Spain, Portugal, France or elsewhere to be allowed to tell those of us who have either chosen to remain here, or who don’t have the means to move elsewhere, whether or not we should remain part of the UK.

It could be argued that this is an “in case the referendum does go ahead” kind of remark. Possibly because he believes that ex-pats are not subject to the vagaries of Westminster as those who are left here are, and they are therefore more likely to support remaining part of the Union. Well, what they think should not come into the equation. They moved away and in doing so took their names off the voters’ roll. That should be an end of it.

READ MORE: Mike Small: What hope do George Galloway and Michael Gove have of saving the Union?

Or maybe, as they do in football, we might open it to those living and born abroad but claiming Scots descent because their granny was Scottish. That would mean Donald Trump could possibly be allowed to vote in the referendum. Does anyone want that? #

The referendum vote should only be open to those people who are living in Scotland and are registered to vote at Scottish elections. Immigrants who have chosen to live here should be more entitled to decide Scotland’s future than Scots people who have moved away and no longer live here.

Charlie Kerr
Glenrothes

ON the face of it, the vague Galloway/Gove suggestion of allowing those living abroad with a Scots connection to vote in indyref2 just seems a vague idea from vague politicians who, expecting to lose, are getting their excuse in early.

On reflection I think that there may be some merit in the idea if done properly.

Firstly, eligibility – it shouldn’t matter where they live now, people are always moving, but who they are. I propose that it be the same as would allow them play for Scotland in any sport in which we field a national team.

Registration would be voluntary, it being up to them to ask for it rather than have the electoral authorities chase them.

READ MORE: Unionists are on the ropes, but unity is needed to deliver the knockout

The registration procedure would have costs to administer. To cover them I propose that in the bill at Holyrood to establish the process be included that all successful applicants have also volunteered to be as fully liable for all taxation at the same rate on income and assists as those voters resident within Scotland, no matter which jurisdiction or tax haven in which they are currently domiciled. If a substantial number do register, it would only be fair to also establish an overseas list to allow their voices to be heard at Holyrood.

No representation without contribution.

David Rowe
Beith

I CAN see a snag in the Gove/Galloway desire to give Scots-born voters registered elsewhere in the UK the right to vote in indyref2. They obviously haven’t thought this through, which shouldn’t really surprise anybody.

If ex-patriate Scots are included it surely means that those not born in but resident in Scotland must be excluded.

Given the patriotism of the Scottish diaspora, many of them may well support independence for the land of their birth whilst a large proportion of immigrants from south of the Border voted No the last time. This is pretty certainly a zero sum.

It may even turn completely the other way and increase the majority for independence.

Another indication of the childish desperation being displayed by hard-of-thinking Unionists?

Les Hunter
Lanark

WHERE is the PM in this crisis-troubled England? I say England because “devolved issues” (ie health and education) affect England too.

Yet, the PM is really a person missing! Where are the great speeches, the delivery of hope to the Anglian masses? He has now abandoned his holiday in Scotland as someone revealed his location!

Who is minding England’s green and pleasant land in this seriously troubled time? The oven-ready Brexit deal has faltered too. Suddenly, things are coming apart at the political and governmental seams and drift has set in. U-turns and panic-induced corrective measures are rushed through.

READ MORE: We won't let Better Together spin factory tell us PM was 'unsafe' in Scotland

Boris Johnson has the position he always felt was his entitlement, yet the times, events and issues have changed. The joker, stand-up comic side of himself has suddenly been afflicted by stage fright. In fact, he is not really on the world stage at all like other “leaders”. Unseen, in fact unheard these days, is surprising for the man who used to splurt out new word coinages and catchphrases to the delight of his coterie!

Now it has gone quiet! All Quiet on the Westminster Front could be the title of a new book! The PM, missing in action!

John Edgar
Kilmaurs

I WROTE recently on the disrespectful language used by Ruth Davidson when she was quoted as saying that they “should have put the boot in”. Presumably she meant the Conservative party ought to have done something awful to supporters of independence.

This morning I have to complain about the disrespectful language used by Kirsty Strickland in her column (Now even the Daily Mail has had it with Johnson, August 22).

READ MORE: Now even the Daily Mail has had it with Boris Johnson on Scotland visit

To refer to the Prime Minister as duplicitous, offensive, and arrogant is acceptable, because that is true. BUT to refer to him as an a***h*** is to reduce herself and the independence movement to the Prime Minister’s level of crassness. As Michelle Obama said: "When they go low, we go high".

We in the independence movement must show respect in everything we do and say – we must go high when they go low.

Margaret Forbes
Inverclyde