AS an indy supporter, I’m dismayed that the SNP is still flogging the dead horse that is a Section 30 referendum (requiring Westminster’s consent).
The UK Tories have shown themselves repeatedly immune to reasoned pleas on such matters as the treatment of refugees and relaxing of Brexit policies to deal with labour shortages.
It’s extreme wishful thinking to imagine that they will agree to an indy referendum in 2023. That just isn’t going to happen.
For the Scottish Government to conduct its own referendum would be potentially disastrous for the prospects of getting independence.
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To have legitimacy, it would need to achieve a Yes vote of more than 50% of all those registered to vote (not 50% of those actually voting).
Even in the 2014 referendum, only 84.6% of those on the register actually voted (with 44.7% of them voting Yes). However, that was only 37.8% of those registered to vote.
Added to that (remembering the Catalonia independence referendum of 2017, where only 43% participated), you would have a boycott by the Unionist parties, the huge anti-indy bias of the broadcasting and print media, the unthinking Unionism of a (still substantial) loyalist minority in central Scotland and the influence of social media.
The Tories, knowing all that, would be daft to challenge a Scottish Government referendum in the courts.
A much better way forward for the indy movement would be for the Scottish Government to declare that a vote for the pro-indy parties (SNP, Green and possibly Alba?) in the next Westminster election (due by January 2025) will be regarded as our independence referendum.
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The advantages of this would be a clear and valid indicator of support for independence in Scotland (provided we get more than 50% of the total votes cast) and the Unionist parties are not likely to boycott the vote.
It will still require a major effort (and clear radical policies) to counter media bias, online targeting of social media users and some people’s instinctive loyalist leanings.
If we win the majority vote, the SNP and Green leaders would have to be prepared to take on the Westminster establishment (as they’ve never done before) to see us through the process of independence negotiations.
The question is: do they have the bottle for it, or are they happy in their present roles as the new Scottish political establishment (that doesn’t rock the UK boat too much)?
John Dennis
Dumfries
BEFORE writing this letter I had to read the letter “Why seek indy only to outsource our foreign policy” (June 4) several times. In it Ewan Gurr writes: “Why, for instance, would we seek to regain political independence only to outsource our foreign policy to the UN, our defence policy to Nato and our legislative power to the EU.”
That is nothing more than isolationist nonsense.
Whereas in 1967 Winnie Ewing said: “Stop the world, Scotland wants to get on,” he effectively advocates that once Scotland has regained independence, instead of joining with the rest of the world, it should retreat into the shell of isolationism.
Michael Follon
Glenrothes
EWAN Gurr, the national organiser for Sovereignty, appears to be confusing independence with isolation.
Few Scots support the international or domestic policies of the present UK Government that have resulted in ever-increasing isolation since taking the UK out of the EU.
The UN, Nato, EU and many others are all examples of cooperation between sovereign states sharing a common interest, negotiating and adopting shared policies where possible.
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Hopefully the days when Scotland’s foreign policy, defence policy and many of its legislative powers are outsourced to Westminster will soon be over.
Scotland will not exit subservience in the Union either to outsource its policies to another master or retreat into isolation; an independent Scotland will take its long overdue place alongside other independent countries in numerous international organisations that cooperate for the mutual benefit of all.
John Jamieson
South Queensferry
WHAT the hell was Ewan Gurr’s letter about? Seriously, there is not one country that does not feel, act, or behave like a sovereign nation joining the United Nations, the European Union or the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
Cliff Purvis
via email
NICE to see Morris Blythman’s Scottish Breakaway songmentioned at the weekend. And what about his masterpiece, Lucky Wee Prince Chairlie, with the wonderful verse:
Chairlie the First, he was beheided
Chairlie the Second, he succeeded
Chairlie the Third’ll no’ be needed
Lucky Wee Prince Chairlie
Jack Foley
Hamilton
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