IN the social contract with its citizens, a truly sovereign government must fulfil several duties and responsibilities in return for the power to tax in order to provide the necessary funding.

It must protect the liberties and private property of its citizens from internal and external threat. It must enable free market exchange in the pursuit of wealth and happiness. It must manipulate money supply, money demand and interest rates, in order to defend the internal and external value of its currency against inflation and deflation.

In the long run, it must not increase the national debt except in order to meet the exigencies of war. Over the short run of the business cycle, and to counter the effects thereof, any cyclical budget deficit must be offset by a cyclical budget surplus. It must support the disabled, and ensure public health. It must control its borders and the immigration of foreigners in the interests of social stability and cultural cohesion, as represented by language, institutions, individual rights, responsibilities, traditions and rituals. All this is largely indisputable, except to a committed, if deluded, Marxist.

Yet it is no coincidence that these are the powers which the European Union in part has, and/or which it seeks to expand via the Lisbon Treaty. That treaty cannot be renegotiated nor reversed. An individual member state can give notice to quit the union by invoking Section 50 of the treaty, and only then is the Commission obliged to engage in any serious talks, as the Prime Minister will discover long before his proposed 2017 referendum. The whole point is that the treaty is the intended vehicle to effect an unstoppable transfer of sovereignty from the extant member states to the Council of Ministers and the Commission in Brussels. With the European Parliament largely impotent, democracy is being squeezed to death, and the European Union is becoming a benign replication of Wilhelmine Germany, governed by its own Junker class.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, has urged those against independence "to get real" on the issue of EU membership ("Academics pour scorn on independence timetable" The Herald, January 16). How odd therefore that to the SNP, independence is defined perversely as ceding almost all the defining duties and responsibilities of a sovereign government. Either London would retain essential defence, sterling, and all fiscal, monetary and interest rate powers, or the same powers would go to Brussels and Berlin via the euro, plus all the others over immigration, agriculture, fisheries, financial services and energy.

It is a delusion and deception by the SNP to assert that sovereign independence can be Scotland's in the evolving political integration of the European Union. Only by remaining in the UK, and by the UK quitting the EU, can the sovereignty of the Scottish people, as expressed through Westminster/Holyrood, be preserved. The European Parliament election in May of this year presents us in Scotland and in the rest of the UK with the golden opportunity of a putative referendum on continuing membership of the emerging European superstate. It certainly serves no other purpose, except possibly that of putting members of the political class on the taxpayer gravy-train. As all the four main political parties - the Conservatives, the SNP, Labour and the Liberal Democrats - would supinely subjugate our democracy and sovereignty to Europe, we the people can derail this hitherto inexorable process only by voting for Ukip. Nothing else about this European election is of any consequence whatsoever.

Richard Mowbray,

14 Ancaster Drive,

Glasgow.

MICHAEL Settle reports on the views of academics who say it might be difficult to meet the 18-month time­table for independence after the referendum Of course these academics were selected to give evidence to the 100% Unionist Commons Scottish Affairs Committee.

As a former academic and MEP I know you get the opinions you want from the witnesses you choose to appear before your committee. No doubt the Yes campaign can offer alternative academics and legal opinion. I prefer the opinion of my old ambassador to the EU, Sir John Kerr, who went on to head up the Foreign Office and in retirement draft the EU Constitution. Lord Kerr, as he now is, was asked on Newsnight how long would it take for Scotland to negotiate its entry into the EU he said: "About 24 hours."

The truth is the real threat to Scotland's membership of the EU comes from a No vote in September. Then we will be tied to an increasingly reactionary and nationalist government driven by a fear of Ukip committed to a referendum on EU membership in 2017. Fuelled by an increasingly racist debate on immigration we could find ourselves thrown out the EU however Scotland votes on the issue. The only safe way to remain in the EU is to vote Yes in September.

Hugh Kerr (MEP 1994-99),

23 Braehead Avenue, Edinburgh.

ALEX Gallagher (Letters, January 16) asserts that all the uncertainty over a shared currency and the Treasury's reassurances over UK debt "wouldn't exist if the SNP wasn't pushing for independence". This is of course an undeniable fact.

The SNP won a majority of seats at the last Scottish elections which enabled them to legislate for a referendum on independence. That some cannot accept this, even at this stage in the campaign, suggests to me they are living in some kind of Unionist bubble of denial. Reading between the lines, Mr Gallagher is not looking forward with much enthusiasm to September 18.

Richard MacKinnon,

0/1 131 Shuna Street, Glasgow.