I FOUND it very interesting that your columnists Michael Settle and Magnus Gardham both chose to highlight the apparent complacency of the UK Government regarding Scotland's independence referendum ("Cameron falters as grand finale fast approaches" and "Both sides confident despite the setbacks", The Herald, August 30).
Nowhere is that complacency more evident than in the oft-repeated refusal of UK Ministers to "pre-negotiate" with the Scottish Government, and their insistence that the UK Government is making no contingency plans for a possible Yes vote. If they are telling the truth, I think they are guilty of culpable naivety; if they are being less than truthful I accuse them of cavalier posturing.
Even if UK Government ministers have been myopic enough to turn a Nelsonian blind eye to the ramifications of Scottish independence, I wager that their hard-working civil servants have not. Having worked for many years in central government policy divisions, I would be amazed if civil servants in both the UK and Scottish Governments had not already discussed and agreed comprehensive contingency plans covering many options.
Career civil servants have a duty to prepare, well in advance, for the sort of major changes of Ministers and policies which can follow a general election.
As the permanent custodians of the government machine, their priorities have to be very different from those of their transient, and often self-seeking, political masters. Why, then, would they not be equally assiduous in relation to the momentous administrative upheaval which would follow a Yes vote?
At this late stage in the game, we need an end to the chicanery on both sides of the debate.
Iain Stuart,
34 Oakbank Crescent,
Perth.
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