IS anyone else finding the world of politics increasingly surreal?

The Better Together Campaign apparently isn't. This is demonstrably the case as another group in a desperate search for synonyms has launched itself with a former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, as a figurehead. I refer to United With Labour, which apparently does not feel better together with the other lot. It seems our former Prime Minister does not feel that the other partners with whom we are all better together would be arguing for a United Kingdom with social justice and fairness at its core.

It seems from his speech and subsequent interviews that his message is "don't trust the Tories and Liberal Democrats". But is that not a compelling argument to vote for independence on September 18, 2014 so that Scotland no longer has to live with the uncomfortable influence of a government in Westminster increasingly at odds with what is rapidly emerging as the Scottish way?

And now we have a hugely entertaining backbench "re-imagining" of the Tory eurosceptic blockbuster, which I shall unimaginatively call Maastricht 2. It's an amusing if mundane re-working of a tired plot with a Prime Minister running scared of his own ministers and backbenchers promising an in/out referendum sometime in the future. So here's my question for the real world – on what basis is Scotland voting to remain part of the United Kingdom? Is that a UK that is in or a UK that is out of Europe? And if we are voting to remain part of the UK that is at the heart of Europe and the Tory eurosceptics rip us out of there, is the referendum result null and void? Do we get another referendum that will allow us to take account of the UK's reduced status in Europe and the wider world?

And in our Prime Minister's draft bill ("PM defends decision to bring forward EU referendum bill", The Herald, May 15) it states that the question to be posed on the ballot is "Do you think that the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Union?" I wonder whether that had been cleared by the Electoral Reform Society bearing in mind the brouhaha about the First Minister's proposed referendum question?

Ian McNeil,

2 Priory Road, Beauly.

AS a former MEP I am watching with some amusement the Tories tearing themselves apart over membership of the European Union. This has less to do with the reality of membership and more to do with the reactionary politics of the UK Independence Party tail wagging the Tory dog.

There is a serious implication for Scotland. Any referendum on Europe would produce a majority for exit in England while Scotland would vote to stay in the EU. However, our membership would be determined by the vote in England.

Therefore the long-term choice for Scotland is whether it wants to be part of a declining, reactionary UK off the coast of Europe with no employment, social or environmental protection, or whether it wants to be part of the largest economic area in the world and the most successful political union in human history.

I have no doubt how Scotland would vote in a referendum on the EU but it is clear that the most important vote is the referendum on independence next year.

Hugh Kerr (MEP 1994-99),

Braehead Avenue, Edinburgh.