THE SNP’s singular party conference motion concerning independence has no follow-up intention if, as is most likely, Westminster refuses to recognise an SNP Westminster majority at its next General Election as the means to begin independence negotiations.
While most of the motion’s substance may have been agreed at the various regional assemblies, the conference motion has not been agreed by the people. Admittedly, amendments will be submitted, hopefully sufficient to change the main substantial wording to suit conference. I hae ma ain doots about that happening.
READ MORE: Labour MP says Scotland should get indyref2 if people vote for it
Personally, I would have more faith in the Salvo team’s way for achieving independence than what the SNP government is proposing.
Westminster is totally adamant against any attempt the Scottish Government chooses to make, as has been proved time and again since 2014. And, as we all know, the dependency Westminster has on Scotland’s contributions to the Treasury is tantamount to avoiding Westminster going near enough bankrupt. So why would Humza Yousaf think that a majority of SNP MPs in Westminster will make the Tories change their minds?
Alan Magnus-Bennett
Fife
I AM in total agreement with Graeme McCormick’s letter in Friday’s National about certain SNP politicians undermining independence. We all know who they are, and they have no place in our future.
I do love the irony that their first criticism was that Nicola Sturgeon ran a tight ship and that wider membership views need to be recognised. When the wider membership proposes that independence negotiations should start on seats won and count as a “de facto” referendum then this is disparaged and discounted! Go figure!
READ MORE: Humza Yousaf pledges to make economic case for independence
Little wonder Nicola Sturgeon maintained Cabinet responsibility with the likes of Regan, Ewing, Cherry etc wandering around spouting negativity and discord.
Humza should consider the same approach.
Robert Allan
Fochabers, Moray
IF a majority of seats won on a significant minority of votes allows the Labour or Tory parties to govern the UK, why is “not credible” that the SNP winning a majority of seats in Scotland on a minority of votes in the same election is a mandate to pursue a manifesto commitment of independence?
David Howie
Dunblane
I WAS with Iain K (Long Letter, Sep 15) all the way till his last paragraph! I voted for Humza Yousaf, he was by far the best and most able candidate as is now being shown. To list the achievements of the SNP government is fine and should be done more often, but not if you are going to conclude by trying to kick the legs from under it!
Drew MacLeod
Wick
THE news that the population of Scotland has grown to more than five million was somehow catastrophised by Reporting Scotland. Mentions of strain on public services and the health service were rife. But wait! Isn’t our increase in population due to an increase in new Scots coming to our country to work? Doesn’t work imply taxation, indirect and direct?
Always an opening gambit in demographics is this: who makes up the largest group of migrants to Scotland? The answer is English people. So claims of being taken over by other migrant groups are unfounded. In Scotland, more people are dying than being born and this goes back to the Statistical Accounts of Scotland pre-Treaty of Union. So an increase in population for Scotland is good news. More population means more workers, more workers means more taxation, more taxation means better public services.
READ MORE: ‘SNP NEC needs more ordinary members on it’
To close, here are some recent comments from new Scots and visitors to our country personally witnessed. Italian new Scot: “I came here because Scotland is going for independence. Scotland is going places.” New Yorker on holiday: “I love Glasgow. It has a vibe to it. My friends said the vibe is similar to New York!” Polish new Scot: “The people are so friendly here!” Afghani refugee: “People here are are so respectful to my situation. I am so grateful.”
Population growth is a healthy sign. Using an analogy, if there is no inflation in an economy, that economy is stagnant. If there is no population growth in an economy, that economy is also stagnant.
WJ Graham
East Kilbride
WHILE the Scottish Government is putting a great deal of its effort into protecting the people from the ravages of austerity imposed by successive Labour, Tory-LibDem and Tory governments, MSPs belonging to these London-based parties are beavering away submitting time-consuming freedom of information requests hoping that the answers can be used to show Scotland in a bad light.
Now they have asked for historic details of correspondence between civil servants in the hope of proving that civil servants did not know something at the time it was said by the First Minister.
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Does it never occur to these head office script-readers that people outside of the civil service provide information to the Scottish Government or that our ministers and MSPs can even work out per capita figures and percentages by themselves?
If they really want to find evidence of errors in speeches and articles they should concentrate on tidal power, where speakers and writers often fail to differentiate between tidal power generation and tidal stream power generation when comparing Scotland with other countries.
John Jamieson
South Queensferry
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