ON Saturday the National Executive of the SNP issued a statement that they had unanimously agreed the wording of a resolution – mind you in a draft form – to be debated at the party’s special democracy conference in March.

In other parlance they unanimously agreed with their leader that the SNP would prefer an independence referendum over anything else and will continue to press the UK Government for a Section 30 Order.

The document offers two alternative options, the first being a de facto referendum or plebiscite at the General Election in 2024, and the second being a de facto referendum or plebiscite at the next Scottish Parliamentary election no later than May 7 2026.

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon reacts as UK blocks Scottish gender reform bill

The whole document is based on the principle that the people of Scotland alone should be the final arbiters of what they believe to be in their own best interests, and many would consider that to be a noble cause that cannot be refuted. But there is no alternative in the SNP’s offering.

In this case there is an alternative that is complementary to the SNP’s aim of Scottish independence and yet is completely different. It’s called Salvo, is easy to join and costs nothing to become a supporter. It is not a political party and you can be an existing member of a political party and still be a member of Salvo.

The Treaty of Union is an international treaty and is beyond the competence of the UK Supreme Court. The Government of Great Britain, now the so-called UK Government, has since 1707 totally ignored the fact that the people of Scotland are sovereign, and the principle of the unlimited sovereignty of the English parliament is a distinctly English principle that has no counterpart in Scottish constitutional law, and yet England claims sovereignty over Scotland, despite the fact that Scottish constitutional law, including the Claim of Right, is a fundamental part of the Treaty of Union that has been disregarded up until now.

READ MORE: Better Together promises 'falling apart' as Scots shipyard to lose out

Salvo’s aim is to bring these facts to an international court and seek a judicial opinion on the catastrophic misrule from London that we’ve been suffering from for the last 100 years or so. This is not a race, but we have two organisations with entirely different approaches to solving the same difficult problem of gaining independence. One belongs to the votes of the people, and the other on respect for the rule of law. Don’t you think you should belong to both?

There are many of the finest minds in Scotland already involved in Salvo. Why not include them if you believe in a Scotland free to chart its own course towards our future happiness and wellbeing?

Bruce Moglia
via email

ALL indications are that a deal on the Northern Ireland protocol will be sealed in the next month in time for the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.

The real question is whether such a deal will be sellable to the Unionist electorate. The DUP have little wriggle room, having lost ground to the anti-Protocol TUV at the last Assembly election.

The UK command paper proposals would seem the minimum required for the DUP to move, but I suspect any deal will fall far short, despite the local NI branch of the Tories recently calling for the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill to be passed in full.

READ MORE: UK-EU Northern Ireland Protocol negotiations stall

The fact that the UK Government has tabled legislation to override devolution yet again, in order to start building border posts, also raises suspicions that the Conservative & Unionist Party intend to call the Unionists’ bluff.

The government may be under the misconception that the DUP will fall in behind the UUP and opt to operate the devolved institutions after a protocol deal has been implemented.

The DUP should be loud and clear that like the EU, they can wait for a Labour government to align the whole UK with the EU in order to remove the Irish Sea border.

Only Tory Brexiteers can now prevent the reversal of much of Brexit.

Alan Day
Cookstown, County Tyrone

SIR Keir Starmer on Sunday with Laura Kuenssburg at the weekend – is there anything else he can backtrack on?

The NHS can clear the waiting lists by using private hospitals – great news, give them more profit and let them charge the NHS funny money and make more.

Self-refer to hospital to avoid using the GP – that will help reduce the waiting lists on what planet? And can he explain how someone would know they have an internal bleed but just need tests?

READ MORE: Keir Starmer accused of parroting 'Tory myths' on Scottish gender laws

You really have to wonder if he really hears what he is saying and is not just issuing soundbites. This is irresponsible and utterly dangerous and will in no way help either waiting lists or GPs.

And of course no hard questions about Tory anti-strike legislation or the bin fire of EU laws or the ongoing strikes.

The Labour Party should have an open goal, but they are determined to take away the principles of a Labour government and destroy them.

Winifred McCartney
Paisley 

READ MORE: Did the Pope take a shot at the UK with a cryptic Scottish independence comment?

I HAVE a spare copy of The Declaration of Arbroath if the Pope is interested (Pope says Scottish indy has been ‘resolved’ by ‘the English’, Jan 14). However if he looks in the Vatican archives he may find the letter sent to Pope John XXII by King Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, dated around April 1320, which might help him reassess his recent utterances.

Richard Easson
Dornoch

IN his article “Darien disaster should not define Scots ventures” (Jan 16) Rory MacLellan says Great Britain and France were at war in 1627 and later says GB and France made peace. There was no GB then, Scotland  and England being separate, sovereign states. He should have said England instead of Great Britain.

Jim McLean
London