Government of independent Scotland would be severely constrained

This is misleading on at least two counts. It assumes that pulling the levers will actually achieve the desired effect. It further assumes that those in government know which levers to pull, and in what combinations, to produce the desired effects. Neither assumption is valid. Even worse, pulling a lever may have unintended consequences. The reality is that the Government of an independent Scottish economy will find that its ability to influence the economy is severely constrained.

First, a government of an independent Scotland that is in the EU will find that its actions are constrained by Brussels. State aid to industry and fisheries are two obvious areas where government's ability to intervene is limited. Secondly, being part of a monetary union - whether the pound or the euro - means key economic powers are not available to an independent Scottish government.

Thirdly, an independent Scotland is no more likely than the UK Government to be able to extract appropriate levels of tax from multinational companies which are able to use their international structure to manipulate their tax liabilities. Fourthly, finance and economic activity will continue to concentrate in and around London and other global cities, regardless of whether Scotland is independent or not. Finally, a Scottish govern­ment is constrained by its historical legacy.

Scotland is a branch-plant economy, an outcome of 50 years of policy that has sought to attract production and service activities of multinational companies through financial incentives. There are relatively few large indigenous Scottish-head­quartered companies. The level of private sector R&D activity is about half that of the UK as a whole.

It has a shallow pool of senior management, especially those who have had experience of managing entrepren­eurial companies through several stages of growth. This is a significant constraint on entrepreneurial activity.

Moreover, it assumes that an independent Scottish Government will know what actions to take. In my own area of expertise - enterprise and entrepreneurship - the Government's Scotland Can Do report on "becoming a world-leading entrepreneurial and innovative nation" exhibits a distinct lack of innovative thinking and fresh ideas in this important area of policy.

When governments do spend money on efforts to promote economic growth it is frequently ineffective. Take the multi-million-pound Intermediate Technology Initiative as an example. This had the laudable objective of enhancing Scotland's technology base by creating Internet Protocol capable of commercialis­ation. However, thanks to a Herald Freedom of Information request we know that the initiative's outcomes, in terms of patents, licen­sing income and new technology firm formation, fell well below targets. This policy failure is attributable to a combin­ation of poor implementation, a naive view of the innovation process and the nature of the Scottish entrepreneurial ecosystem.

In summary, politicians who argue that the powers conferred by independence will enable them to transform the Scottish economy are deceiving the electorate. In our globalised world, dominated by international finance and multinational businesses and organised along supra-national blocs such as the European Union, national governments are increasingly impotent in shaping economic futures.

Professor Colin Mason,

Flat 2/1, 9 Bluebell Drive,

Newton Mearns.

THE SNP has been very clever in creating the notion that Scottish independence will bring to reality its promises in the White Paper and elsewhere. The truth is that independence could make these promises possible. But it will not of itself make them happen. It would be for the Scottish Government post-independence, which of course may not be SNP, to decide how much of what is being promised actually happens.

Scott Macintosh,

4 Alder Crescent, Killearn.

RICHARD Mowbray's pro-Union diatribe (Letters, January 8) should hopefully convince most Don't Knows regarding their voting intentions -that the only way forward for Scotland is not to remain within this beacon of progressive enlightenment.

His comment that "the mumbo-jumbo of blood, earth, kith and kin have historically defined the crudity of nationalism" is insulting to most Scots, especially Gaelic-speaking Highlanders, who in the past were forced to emigrate when their land was forfeited and stolen by land grabbing British landlords.

These atrocities were committed in the full knowledge of our masters in Westminster and the British establishment as a whole. In this free society, virtually anyone is entitled to refer to themselves as British, as long as they hold a British passport. The Ulsterman, as suggested, is British to the core. Your contributor has conveniently forgotten to mention the religious aspect of this fact. Fortunately, in a progressive and forward-looking Scotland we don't have this problem.

J MacArthur,

Shore Street,

Portnahaven, Islay.