MORAY voted to Remain in the EU by only 122 votes which means that several villages - towns even - must have voted to Leave.

Should they feel outraged at Nicola’s attempt to make them Remain? My own family voted three to two (me in the minority) to Leave - should we be outraged too?

Of course not - it would be absurd. Equally absurd is Nicola’s carefully synthesised outrage at the possibility of Scotland being taken out of the EU having voted otherwise.

It is no more an outrage than that being suffered by London or Northern Ireland or Gibraltar who also did not want to Leave - but they don’t wail like our Scottish Government which has developed a habit of not accepting it has ended up on the wrong side of a referendum.

The UK voted as a whole to leave the EU and we are part of the UK.

By tapping in to Scotland’s grievance culture in order to have a second go at breaking up the UK the SNP are playing with fire.

The economic case for Scotland leaving the UK was shaky in 2014 and is now, as the rest of the UK prepares to leave the EU, downright lunatic.

Let’s look at some simple facts.

First, the SNP’s projections of taxation revenues for the oil industry have proved hopelessly wrong - there is now virtually nil direct oil tax revenue.

This would not only knock a hole in an independent Scotland’s finances but should knock a hole in the SNP’s credibility too.

Second, partly (but only partly) as a result of the first point, Scotland has a significant fiscal deficit - broadly twice that of the UK as a whole.

To put it in understandable money terms our additional deficit is over £1,000 per person per year. If Scotland was independent, whether in the EU or not, eye-watering cuts to public expenditure and tax rises would be needed. More money out of your pocket; fewer nurses and teachers. Independence would hurt us all financially.

Third, the rest of the UK is Scotland’s biggest trading partner by miles.

We export around four times to the rest of the UK what we do to the rest of the EU.

The single market which matters to Scotland is not the EU but the UK.

Anything we do to make it harder for a customer in Manchester to buy from a business in Motherwell - which leaving the UK would - is going to hurt Scotland. Less jobs, less wealth created and less money available to spend on public services.

Fourth, as the EU and Euro demonstrate magnificently, it takes a properly integrated economy with effective fiscal transfers and strong political unity to make a single currency work well. The EU does not have this but the UK does.

Staying in the UK allows us to keep the pound and have the Bank of England stand behind us. Having our own noddy currency with no reserves to back it up or being forced to join the Euro, as we almost certainly eventually would if Scotland stayed in the EU, is a recipe for trouble.

Independence for Scotland as the rest of the UK leaves the EU risks an economic shock which would severely damage our country.

Think fast Nicola - you’d better find another way if you don’t want to set Scotland back a generation in terms of national wealth and public services.

Now is absolutely the worst time for Scotland to become independent.