Italy will not facilitate easy EU access for independent Scotland

Only last week,more than two million voters supported independence for Venice in an online poll, sending shock waves throughout Italy. There is also a sizable nationalist move­ment in the rich northernmost province of Italy, where there is simmering resentment that they fund the profligate poor southern provinces. Sardinian separatists have even recently suggested that the Italian government should sell Sardinia to Switzerland.

Against such a seething back­ground of nationalism, no Italian government could be seen to facilitate easy access to the EU for an independent Scotland. If there is a Yes vote in September, we can expect years of uncertainty as Scotland is forced to join the long queue of aspiring accession states. We will be forced to join the Eurozone, forced to join the Shengen area with the erection of a border between us and our British neighbours, and we will lose our share of the UK rebate, making EU membership more expensive for all Scots. Maybe Alex Salmond will parrot Michael Caine's famous words at the end of The Italian Job': "Hang on a minute lads, I've got a great idea."

Struan Stevenson,

(Conservative MEP for Scotland 1999-2014),

67 Northumberland Street,

Edinburgh.

ALAN Hinnrichs (Letters, July 8) reminds us again that there is a huge wealth and earnings gap between the "rich" minority and the many ordinary working folk in the UK. How this will be at least partially rectified is still elusive; why voting Yes for separation from the UK will automatically reverse this "accept­ance" of social inequality is unexplained.

Introducing the so-called Scottish living wage of £7.65, going on to £8.80, per hour, seems certain to do little to narrow the gap, even if it is better than the minimum wage of £6.31 per hour.

The average wage for the population as a whole is about £25,000 per annum, not really enough in itself for anyone to contemplate buying a house, for example, although of course lots get far more.

Redistribution associated with increasing taxes at the top is increasingly identified as a key equalising measure - indeed the only obviously effective one. Mr Hinnrichs could go on to give some details of how much.

Joe Darby,

Glenburn, St Martins Mill, Cullicudden,

Dingwall.

WHEN one is presented with big numbers I do feel the necessity to look at them both from a quanti­tative and qualitative standpoint.

Therefore I noted the criticism by MSP John Lamont of the £219,000 spent by the Scottish Government on external affairs ("Minister's trip to a Latvian dance festival is criticised", The Herald, July 8). For most people that is a large sum of money. However, when you analyse it, the figure is over three years and equates to £73,000 per year on promoting the interests of Scotland abroad. Also it was spent by a considerable number of people. Hardly a misuse of the public purse.

However, contrast this with another article in the same issue of your newspaper, which notes that £290,000 was spent by the UK Government on a poll on the referendum earlier this year ("SNP MSP urges publication of polling survey", The Herald, July 8). The results of this poll will never be released to the people of Scotland by the Westminster Government. That is also a large figure which is undoubtedly a misuse of public money.

But it is the other large figure released last week by Mr Cameron that needs careful analysis. I refer to the £500m promised by the Prime Minister to the people of Scotland ("PM pledges hundreds of millions for Glasgow over next 20 years", The Herald, July 4). This really is, from a quantitative point of view, a very large sum of money. However, from a qualitative analysis you immediately find that the figure is spread over 20 years and equates to £25m a year; a figure that is a miniscule amount compared to the country's GDP. It is less than £5 a head per year for every man woman and child living in Scotland. In real terms it is just over a pint of beer a year. In fact, taking inflation into account, in 20 years' time it will be much less than a pint of beer.

I will ignore the bribe , buy my own annual pint and vote Yes.

Councillor George Kay (SNP),

25 Kirkbank Road,

Burntisland.

PROFESSOR Jeremy Peat ("Problems with sterling mean Plan B needed", Herald Business, July 7) is correct on two counts: Scotland cannot enjoy sovereignty whilst tied to sterling, and there is only one alternative and that is our own currency as soon as possible after independence. Thereafter the article is constrained by the limited horizons of academia, restricting itself to the analysis and dissemination of established theory and current practice.

If any aspect of economic and political life requires radical reform it is the role of financial markets as the trigger to repeated crises. Financial markets are rigged markets financed by big banking and they operate exclusively for the benefit of the participants without reference to the cost to normal economic life.

It is not inevitable that a new Scottish currency would become subject to the whims of these markets. A new Scottish Central Bank could issue the currency as "nonconvertible" other than through its own foreign exchange service - a service which incidentally could be free to commercial banks and eliminate the much-vaunted bogeyman of transaction charges.

The exchange value of national currencies should be related to balance of payments and the prudent management of the currency within the borders of the state. It is not necessary to allow one's currency to become enmeshed in financial markets, and experience provides more than ample evidence to this effect.

The administration of the currency is the responsibility of the state which issues it and not that of private banks or market speculators. That, however, has gradually and insidiously become the norm as powerful lobbies have seduced democratic governments into perceiving no other options. That is criminally wrong - there are other ways to manage our monetary policy to benefit the real economy rather than this self-destructive epidemic of financial capitalism.

There is a place for academics and professional bankers in this important debate, but if Scotland is really to achieve its potential then the public interest must be fully represented. We must reject those institutions which have clearly failed us and turn our sights towards new horizons. That will require pressure from those members of the public who may not understand the detail but who know in their bones that they are being manipulated and disadvantaged.

RF Morrison,

Millig,

29 Colquhoun Street,

Helensburgh.

I WONDER If Lord McConnell appreciates the unconscious irony in his proud boast that Unicef "helps thousands of children in Scotland ... has announced a system to support new-born babies and their mothers ... works in schools helping children to know their rights" and so on ("Our Commonwealth Games have a vital role in putting children first", Agenda, The Herald, July 8).

How our illustrious former First Minister can actually boast that there is a need for a foreign agency to concern itself with instances of social deprivation in his native country beggars belief. He should instead be hanging his head in shame that we have to rely on strangers to fund and implement programmes to deal with problems that he and his fellow politicians should have ensured did not exist in the first place.

Why are Scottish politicians determined to right wrongs in Malawi if we have to rely on a UN agency to address similar problems in our own society? Charity should begin at home, as should compassion, concern and funding. Once we have fixed Scotland then we can worry about social injustice in the rest of the world.

David J Crawford,

Flat 3/3,

131 Shuna Street,

Glasgow.

SO far, within the independence debate, the UK Government has been insistent it does not place orders abroad.

However, the planes ordered for HMS Queen Elizabeth will be bought from America at a cost of £2.5 billion.

The carrier costs £3bn, so if we understand the UK Government correctly, in the future they will be happy to spend money on American equipment but not spend anything with specialist shipyards in Scotland?

Jim Dear,

82 Marketgate,

Arbroath.