Supporters of Scottish independence are increasingly capitalising on their campaign having a positive message.

This largely centres on the name of their campaign - the Yes campaign. The natural consequence of this is any opponent of a yes campaign must be negative. However, determinations of whether one is positive or negative are attributable solely to the question to be asked: "Should Scotland be an independent country?".

If the question were "Should Scotland remain in the United Kingdom?", supporters of the Union would presumably be tagged as the Yes movement and would thus be positive. If the question were "Should the Scottish Parliament have greater powers within the United Kingdom?", I suspect the number of those voting yes would be greater.

In short, supporters of independence have a significant strategic advantage as they can sell their message as being positive and portray their opponents as negative supporters of the No vote.

Of course, such an important constitutional issue should not be reduced to two words, particularly when most Scots actually favour greater powers for the Scottish Parliament within the United Kingdom - something long advocated by Willie Rennie's Liberal Democrats.

Allan C Steele

22 Forres Avenue

Giffnock.