GEORGE Kerevan is 100% correct in his article (We’re missing a big opportunity to win Scots over to Yes, May17).
The road to post-Covid economic recovery is going to be a long one. According to the First Minister, the timetable of a second referendum is linked to this recovery and therefore it could be a long wait for indyref2.
The SNP continue to spin the recent election result as a historic victory when in fact the electoral situation has not really changed much since the previous election in 2016. The nation is split down the middle on independence. The 45/55 result would probably be repeated if another referendum were held anytime soon.
READ MORE: George Kerevan: We're missing a big opportunity to win Scots over to Yes
One half of the nation has decided to put hope over fear and the other half is still putting fear before hope. Clearly we need to move a section of the second category into the first. To do that we will, as George suggests, need to come up with the basics of a serious plan for running the economy of a modern European nation.
The SNP both as a political party, and as a government, need to do a lot more work in the coming months and possibly years to prove to the doubters that their wages, pensions, investments, mortgages, jobs, benefits and the like will see, at the very least, stability in an independent Scotland.
Glenda Burns
Glasgow
LIKE Ian Stewart (Letters, May 14), I watched the Andrew Marr Show on Sunday before last and was very alarmed to hear Nicola Sturgeon referencing the Growth Commission when talking about currency. I am a big fan of the FM usually, but talking about using Sterling after independence “until the conditions are right to change to our own currency” is an absolute open goal to our opponents.
READ MORE: We need to put meat on the bones of case for independence
We cannot leave any doubt about our proposals or we leave ourselves open to ridicule from Unionists and waverers will be put off voting Yes. Currency, pensions and borders are absolutely critical to a successful campaign. Weakness on any of these issues and we will lose, simple as that. I understand we don’t want to frighten the horses by being too radical, but our own currency on independence is fundamental.
I have no banking experience but from what I read we need to set up a central bank now. Obviously there would be a short changeover period after an independence referendum – a year? – so that on Independence Day following negotiations with the Westminster government we are using the Scottish pound. I really hope the FM bins the Growth Commission report. Things have changed, it’s beyond time for a strong currency position. If not, she will follow in the footsteps of Alex Salmond! No-one wants to see that.
C Tait
Largs
WHAT a relief to read Ian Stewart’s letter on currency. I know I am very far from alone in dreading the next public mention of the Growth Commission Report, which makes my mood drop like a stone every time. Unless we ditch it in favour of some of the other well-researched proposals that have been produced, we might as well give up on independence here and now.
Ahead of the last SNP conference, all branches were asked to submit resolutions and one that received a huge level of support from branches and individuals was on exactly such a proposal. In spite of that, it was blocked and did not even receive a mention in the wishy-washy composites that were eventually put forward for voting. Surely members and branches should have been registering their disquiet strongly and consistently on this to ensure a fair consideration of the feasibility of these proposals?
Why does this outdated and unpopular Growth Commission Report have such an unassailable hold on our leaders? There is no better weapon we could hand the opposition.
L McGregor
Falkirk
ISN’T the world a strange place? In India thousands of funeral pyres and a lack of oxygen as Covid stalks the land. In the UK folk scramble to get a drink in a pub and some even scramble to get on aircraft to get a suntan in Portugal.
Brian Lawson
Paisley
KIRSTY Strickland’s analysis of the weekend disruption in Glasgow was fairly sound but for her to describe it as “absolute carnage” badly missed the mark when just across the page is a report of the situation in Israel carrying a photograph more fitting of those words (We have to make sure city never comes under siege like this again, May 17).
READ MORE: Kirsty Strickland: There was nothing normal about Rangers fans' siege of Glasgow
For Scotland to have any moral authority to call out the Israeli attacks on both its neighbours and its own Palestinian citizens we must not be shy about addressing our domestic issues, but we must do so with a proper sense of proportion to have any credibility.
If Glasgow this weekend was the scene of “absolute carnage” then how are we to describe the scene in Gaza? Your editorial standard slipped a little yesterday not only by misplacement of these words but more so by highlighting them in a sidebar. I expect better.
Ni Holmes
St Andrews
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