Scotland Matters Letters

We are just into the new year and already the latest salvos in the war of words between the separatist and pro-UK contributors to this page has been launched. Letters fired from the keyboards of Messrs Petrie, McCormick and Campbell will no doubt draw return fire from the likes of Grattan, Lakin and Sutherland and this will intensify the closer we get to a general election. They are representative of the estimated 30% of the electorate strongly in favour of separation and approximately the same percentage strongly opposed. They are extremely unlikely to change each others’ opinions but seek to influence the remaining 40%, who may have opinions on the issue but could be influenced one way or the other. If you are one of the 40% “persuadables; but have neither the time nor the inclination to study the issue in detail, then here’s an approach you might consider. Think about the volume of serious and complex issues facing our country and the world, ranging from wars and global warming effects, through to cost of living and the NHS and artificial intelligence (to name but a few). Now consider the capabilities of our current crop of politicians – whether in government or in opposition – who are already struggling to come up with effective policies to address these issues in the unpredictability of the modern world. Finally, ask yourself whether adding the cost, uncertainty and distraction of an independence referendum to the mix will help or hinder them in finding solutions. A useful reference point would be Brexit and the fact that whether you were in the Remain or Leave camp to begin with, few would deny that eight years after the referendum was announced it has taken up a huge amount of money, political time and effort with many of the pre-existing issues as yet unresolved. Mark Openshaw, Cults, Aberdeen.

THE desperation felt by SNP leaders at the slump in their support and the drying up of donations has elicited a claim from Humza Yousaf that belongs in the realms of the absurd: that in a separate Scotland, we would be £10,200 each better off. He bases this on a comparison with countries ‘that are similar to Scot-land – such as Denmark, Ireland and Finland’. What is ‘similar’ about these countries? Ireland is, of course, a massive tax haven, with over 1,500 multinational companies based there to avail themselves of its low corporation tax rates. As it turns out, the profit ‘only rests in its account’ and is then repatriated to the companies’ home countries. Ireland’s cost of living is very high, its consumption levels lower than the UK’s, and it does not have a free at the point of need health service. Denmark, Nicola Sturgeon’s poster child, is the product of centuries of development. As Professor Mark Blyth says, Scotland could not be like Denmark: ‘It took Denmark 600 years to become Denmark’. Why we should wish to be like Fin-land, which has a long border with aggressive Russia and therefore needs large defence forces, and whose economic growth is close to zero, is a mystery. Except that ABE applies – we want to be like anyone but England. Yousaf cannot do what Mark Blyth says is necessary – to do our own thing, to decide where we want to be and work out how we could get there from where we are today, in realistic terms, not with some kind of Magic Money Tree. But that would be too much like hard work for Mr Yousaf’s Cabinet, and so he relies on fantasies and illusions. And the sad bit is that a lot of Scots are taken in by it. Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh.

With the prospect of a UK general election later this year, SNP MP Tommy Sheppard tries to encourage Scottish voters to keep their focus on the cause of independence, saying that the independence debate “stops” if the SNP loses the next election. Presumably, the last thing he would want anyone to think about is the SNP’s track record over the course of the last 16 years in which they have been in power. Whether it is overcoming the attainment gap in education, reducing hospital waiting list, delivering on promises on everything from dualling the A9 to reducing class sizes, achieving environmental objectives, or pretty much any critical area of delivery, the SNP prefer we forget about what they have not achieved. Instead, we are to imagine how wonderful things could be if we let them get what they want. We must hope the people of Scotland have more sense. Keith Howell, West Linton, Scottish Borders.

Kate Forbes seems to be pushing herself a lot these days, perhaps as a challenge to Humza Yousaf. She may be a better salesperson than he is, but the message is still the same house built on sand! William Ballantine, Bo’ness.

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