MUCH has come to the surface from the froth of the soap opera at Westminster last week. Not least noticed is how it confirms that the SNP leadership’s strategy for independence is a busted flush. It was understandably overlooked amongst the Speaker drama or Labour’s difficulty on voting for a ceasefire to end the killing of children and women that is happening, on average, every four minutes in Gaza.

The SNP leadership strategy naively relies on the trust and kindness of the next likely UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, who some SNP MPs are now suddenly calling “a bare-faced liar”. The Westminster-will-give-a-referendum strategy has hit the buffers, having of course failed at previous elections anyway. Of course Starmer can now also hide behind the faux outrage of refusing to deal with people who call him a “bare-faced liar” – checkmate! I hope already they can spot the problem.

READ MORE: Labour MP denies Keir Starmer 'intimidated' Speaker

It is foolish for the SNP hierarchy to continue with a failed and failing strategy. The only option left to achieve independence is a de-facto referendum, which could be put in train tomorrow by the SNP leadership if they thought independence was important enough, through the device of an unscheduled Holyrood election.

For those who blindly follow a leadership who still refuse to learn, it may take until after the UK General Election or longer to realise there will be no referendum.

Unfortunately for Scottish independence, the SNP leadership who currently hold the votes of the pro-independence voters (something they should not take for granted) will not act from last week’s lesson.

However, mark these words, until the SNP leadership change policy and learn from last week, they are not going to achieve independence or progress to independence at a Westminster election or any other election. Good, hard-working, honest independence voters will be misled, with their hopes and efforts wasted, which will be to the detriment of standards of living in Scotland and a voice for justice on the international stage.

Angus Brendan MacNeil MP
Na h-Eileanan an Iar

ANYONE who witnessed Starmer’s suppression of the SNP opposition day motion on a ceasefire in Gaza should be in no doubt that this is only the opening shot of his rule. He obviously got carried away with his own publicity and decided that a General Election is not required before his assent to the top job.

The elite, the so-called Oxbridge ruling class, are terrified of any favourable press given to the SNP.

As I have said previously, they are desperate to control the narrative.

READ MORE: SNP Gaza debate chaos in Commons shows Westminster ‘archaic'

Wednesday proved that the concerns many have about a parliament run on convention, rather than one run by a probably codified constitution, are quite justified.

The way out of this shambles is by voting SNP at the next General Election. By doing so you will ensure that the maximum number of independence-supporting MPs are returned. That majority of MPs will trigger talks on dissolving this cursed Union.

I did manage to listened to some of the debate and was particularly impressed with SNP MP Steven Bonnar. I was very impressed with his delivery of his speech on the motion for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Cliff Purvis
Veterans for Scottish Independence 2.0

WHY is Ash Regan seeking support from the Scottish Government for Alba’s as-yet-unpublished plans and bill for holding a referendum on requesting the UK Parliament transfer specific powers to the Holyrood parliament?

The Supreme Court has already ruled that the Scotland Act is an act of the Westminster Parliament that can only be amended in the usual way by the Westminster parliament.

READ MORE: Voter ID leads to hundreds turned away in Rutherglen by-election

Alba’s MPs in Westminster can introduce their proposed amendments to the Scotland Act under the mandate from the voters who elected them without waiting on the outcome of a unnecessary referendum.

John Jamieson
South Queensferry

WHAT is the point of the Minister for Independence, Jamie Hepburn, who appears to have no plans for any sort of referendum on independence or even on Scotland’s powers to hold one, according to his responses to Ash Regan on Friday?

He appears quite satisfied to continue to issue his “Building a New Scotland“ papers, which nobody except the political elite ever sees, but seems to have no intention of engaging the wider electorate with a national poster campaign or even mailshots.

WATCH: Independence Minister and Ash Regan clash over referendum plans

The SNP have deteriorated into a timid talking shop since the brave days of 2014, ten long years ago, when everything seemed possible. Even their walkout from Westminster on Thursday, which could have been a seismic, defining event, only lasted about twenty minutes.

The SNP need to get their courage back and they need an Independence Minister who believes in his brief.

James Duncan
Edinburgh

IT was very apparent (even to me, a non-rugby follower) that not a single English Sunday newspaper had a front-page report on Scotland beating England to win the Calcutta Cup four years in a row (some of their Scottish editions did manage to report on it). I wonder if it would have featured on the English front pages had England been as successful?

Watson Crawford
Melrose

I AM not a sport fan per se but I watched the Scotland v Britain rugby match. On TV only a few minutes after the end, the Brit nationalist started on about “they” and “we”. One doesn’t need to clarify that we are the “they”!

That is utterly contemptible, but that is our BBC and the news where you are.

More disgusting is the lack of leadership in Scotland to get us back in the international community.

Bryan Clark
Maybole