I SHARE the frustrations of many who are desperate for Nicola to call indyref2, but are we being naive? Scotland and its representatives in both Holyrood and Westminster have been treated with insulting disdain; any reasoned suggestions put forward by the Scottish Parliament are dismissed out of hand; Scotland is not mentioned once in the withdrawal agreement.
All of these actions and more have incensed people in Scotland – but is that the purpose? Are all these slights intended to provoke Nicola into calling another referendum before she feels the time is right, and when she does a People’s Vote on Brexit is announced? Remember Thatcher and the 1984 miners’ strike?
People who have followed Westminster politics for many years know about the dark arts of the opaque establishment; MI5 and MI6, GCHQ, phone tapping, the Home Office, and did you know that the MoD had an assassination department? It would not surprise me in the least to learn that a secret cabal is plotting to smear Nicola with some invented misdemeanour, which of course will be amplified by the media ad nauseam. For centuries England lusted after Scotland and Westminster is determined not to lose it and will do whatever it takes to thwart independence. When indyref2 is announced the lies and deceit of 2014 will seem like a truant’s white fibs.
Richard Walthew
Duns
READ MORE: Letters: Now is the time for an indyref2 to keep us in the EU
THE time for a second independence referendum is now.
Like a lot of independence supporters, I thought it might be better to wait and see what the situation after Brexit will be. However, it is now clear that Brexit is a disaster in the making which we do not want to be part of against our expressed wishes.
The only way to avoid the calamity of Brexit is to hold a second independence referendum making it clear that only an independent Scotland can guarantee our place in Europe. After all, negotiating fishing rights alone would be enough to allow our entry into Europe as an independent nation, let alone all the other skills, knowledge and resources we would be willing and able to share with our European brethren.
As regards the referendum question, it should simply be the following: “Should all the articles of the Treaty of Union (including those relating to the Union of the Crowns) be rescinded?” We can then return to our original sovereign state, the oldest in Europe I might add. This would ensure continuity with our past and also pay due respect to our ancestors who fought so hard and paid with their lives so that all those living within these borders could live in freedom without interference from external forces.
Solomon Steinbett
Glasgow
WHY is Scotland holding off indyref2? In Englandshire they have a person who locks her Cabinet indoors until they agree with her. Spineless people who don’t stand up to her, but next morning resign!!!!! Come on Scotland GET IT DONE. FREEDOM.
Callum Mackenzie
InverYess
AS someone who supports Scottish independence as the central objective of my politics and having voted Green in Scottish election for the regional list in order to make the best use of my vote to support my objective, I have often been disappointed with Patrick Harvie’s lack of political acumen, and his article in Fridays’ National (The time has come for our First Minister to act on indy, November 16) is another example of this.
I have found his insistence on standing as a Westminster election candidate, when he knows that he will not be elected and that Green votes will dilute the independence vote to the advantage of Unionists and undermine the SNP independence candidate, completely incomprehensible.
I failed to see his logic in allowing the totally unprincipled Ruth Davidson to use the Greens to get a Scottish parliamentary vote against the SNP government –, when the Greens could easily have condemned the Tory tactics and, while expressing their views on the issue, abstained in order to expose them.
Now he is calling for Nicola Sturgeon to announce a new indy campaign at the very moment when we are seeing the Tory party in Westminster tear itself apart, and the May government stagger on aimlessly.
Surely if Patrick had any political sense he would know that “now is not the time” to distract attention from May’s problems. I am reminded of the story that just before the battle of Austerliz, several of Napoleon’s officers approached him and pointed out the deployments the Austrians were making, urging him to do something. “I do not intend to do anything at the moment,” he told them. “When your enemy is making a major mistake it would be rude to interrupt.” If Patrick thinks about it, he might work that out. Nicola, I’m sure, has thought about it.
Andy Anderson
Saltcoats
READ MORE: Why the time has come for Nicola Sturgeon to act on independence
WHAT is it with Labour party leaders of the Scottish branch office? Do they have no confidence in the Scottish people at all? Their current leader has managed a whole year and apparently recorded a video highlighting Labour’s successes over that period – that surely must be the shortest video in history!
For Mr Leonard to claim that Scottish independence would be worse than Brexit is unbelievable. This is the same Labour leader who refused to join the campaign to devolve Universal Credit to the Scottish Parliament, preferring to allow the Tories to impose their cruel sanctions and other austerity policies on those in need. Labour wanted to limit Holyrood’s powers and prefer to have as many powers as possible reserved to the UK Parliament – under the control of the Tories. Even though Theresa May is making a mess of everything the Tories are still more popular than Labour in polls, so we will be under the Tory thumb for years to come as Labour sit back and abstain on Tory austerity policies which penalise rather that support the poor. Fortunately more and more people are realising the only escape from Westminster’s incompetence is independence and Scotland having the power to look after itself.
Cllr Kenny MacLaren
Paisley
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