AT every opportunity the Scottish electorate needs to hear that Keir Starmer assisted the Tories in Westminster to help them “get Brexit done”. Since then he has resolutely said that he will not apply to re-join the European Union in spite of the increasing damage Brexit is doing to the economy, living standards and welfare of our citizens.

The majority of voters in Scotland never wanted to leave the EU and have remained resolute in their quest to rejoin. This will never happen if Scotland remains shackled within the political system of the United Kingdom. We need our independence, and with it the power to begin to enable a better future for ourselves and the choice of a full return to the EU.

READ MORE: Tories accuse Labour MSP of 'all-out communism' after call to outlaw private profit

Voting for a Unionist party is a vote which leaves Scotland trapped in the dysfunctional UK and out of the EU. Starmer and the Labour party are firmly against holding a second Scottish independence referendum because they fear they can’t win it. The Labour party expect that if they can get more MPs elected from Scottish seats they might stand a better chance of winning a General Election, but two years out from a General Election this seems a lost cause for Labour.

Too many times in the past Scotland has voted for a Labour government and ended up being out-voted and, as currently is the case, being ruled by an oppressive Tory government that never pays much regard to the wishes of Scotland or shows respect to its elected representatives.

Voters in Scotland have a clear choice – vote for a Unionist party and remain trapped in a dysfunctional anti-Europe UK which doesn’t meet our needs and locks us out of the EU, or vote for independence to enable us to make all our decisions and free Scotland from the clutches of the anti-Europe Unionists.

Anne Thomson
Redding, Falkirk

WELSH writer Grug Muse recently reflected in The Guardian on the local elections in Wales. As an indicator of London Labour’s changing situation and locus, she wrote: “Welsh Labour is now home to pro-independence currents such as Labour for an Independent Wales, a group supporting ‘socialism through independence’. A 2020 YouGov and Yes Cymru poll suggested that as many as 39% of Labour voters might support independence.”

Labour in Scotland has about a similar group of pro-indy voters. The tectonic plates are shifting. How long have the London Labour factions repeated “wait for a Labour government”? But for how long? That is the problem!

READ MORE: Inflatable prop was a perfect visual metaphor for the puffed-up LibDems

Post-Blair and Brown’s brief mess in No 10, the Tories returned. They always return in England. Not in Wales and not since 1955 in Scotland were they the largest party!

The present changes furth of England including Northern Ireland are ominous for the Union.

The Windsor dynasty is slowly imploding, deference is being met increasingly with polite indifference. The Jubilee will be the last hurrah!

The “family firm” is revealing itself to be an irrelevance to new generations. We do not need self-appointed patronages, as the people themselves are the force for good.

We see the abominable imposition of an unelected, overblown House of Lords stuffed with place men and women receiving tax-free handouts and perks! Even worse, they are there for life and some inherit a place through birth! The House of Lords outnumbers the elected lower Commons. The final absurdity is the voting system for Westminster – first past the post, so favoured by the London-based duopoly.

England, the dominant nation in the UK, is a pariah nation with its Brexmess. Time to leave it to itself. It can have it all to itself. It voted for it. It is entitled!

John Edgar
Kilmaurs

LOCAL elections may have delivered the predictable censure to the Conservative and Unionist party in power from Westminster. Unfortunately they have such a big majority that they are in a position to thole that while avoiding the consequences of the latest inflation figures and letting the poorest pay.

The SNP in Holyrood seem content to say it is all the Tories’ fault and not present a real alternative view for the future of an independent Scotland that could motivate the mobilisation necessary to secure and then win another referendum.

Jeremy Corbyn, while denying self-determination for Scotland, might have argued for a different Britain.

READ MORE: Former Cosla head explains why she didn't stand for Labour again

At present every kind of mainstream politician correctly supports self-determination for Ukraine while it battles with the new imperial Czar Putin.

Unfortunately only socialists in Scotland seem to oppose Nato’s Trident missile armed nuclear submarines and argue for universal free school meals, universal free public transport and a living wage for all, easily paid for by taxing the rich and the oil companies’ profits.

Norman Lockhart
Innerleithen

“HER Majesty’s Government will play a leading role in defending democracy and freedom across the world.” Excellent news from HRH Prince Charles’s Queen’s speech – that’s Scottish independence sorted then.

Alasdair Smith
Eastwood