WHEN Andrew Marr asked Alex Salmond the straight question ''Is a second referendum inevitable?'', he received a straight answer. That answer was ''Yes, but the timing will be decided by Nicola Sturgeon.''

And once again the media responds furiously by asking why the SNP go on and on about this second referendum when they had "vowed" that the last referendum was a once in a lifetime event ("Salmond under for insisting second poll is inevitable,” The Herald, July 27). Actually the only vow that was made before the referendum was by the Better Together side and we have yet to see how that will turn out. It is time that Better Together recognised that the "once in a lifetime" comment was made before the referendum, and needs to be put in context.

I joined the SNP in 1964 so I have witnessed both the SNP's progress and the behaviour of the Westminster Government over the past 50 years.

I saw how, after many years of pressure Scotland eventually got a devolved administration, but on Westminster's terms. It was given an electoral system designed to ensure that the SNP could never have a majority.

In 2007 the SNP became the largest party but without a majority. They decided to form a minority government. The Unionist opposition parties soon made clear the limitations of the SNP's position. They forced through a decision to go ahead with the Edinburgh tram project against the SNP's opposition. They also made it clear that should the SNP ever bring in proposals for a referendum, this would be kicked into touch. For four years the SNP ran Scotland from a minority position, unable to bring in a bill on the very policy that they stood for.

Then a "fluke" happened. In 2011 the SNP won a tiny majority with less than 50 per cent of the vote. They were not supposed to do that. That majority allowed them to pass a referendum bill, and even David Cameron, whose permission was still required to actually hold that referendum, had to concede.

For my part, after 50 years of waiting this was indeed a once in a lifetime opportunity. I felt that the "fluke" result was unlikely to be repeated - that lightning was not going to strike twice.

When Alex Salmond used the phrase before the referendum he was probably mindful of the situation the Scottish electorate was in prior to the vote. Even he would have been mindful of the vagaries of the Holyrood electoral system. To my mind at the time, what he said was not an'admission to the Unionists, it was a warning to the Yes waverers. We might never be in a position again to bring forward a referendum.

What has changed is not that Alex Salmond has gone back on a pledge, but that the whole political situation in Scotland has now changed, and it is Westminster that is going back on a pledge.

My advice to the Unionists is to wake up and recognise that they are not in control any more. If the SNP put a proposal in their 2016 manifesto, and win an increased majority, that is all that is required to hold that referendum.

Nick Dekker,

1 Nairn Way,

Cumbernauld.

ALEX Salmond's intervention on the question of a second independence referendum while his leader is lecturing the Chinese on gender equality, speaks volumes. He apparently does not accept the overwhelming No vote last year, nor the fact that he is now a back-bencher and neither the leader of the SNP in Scotland nor the SNP contingent within the House of Commons.

His comments can only continue to stoke the fire of uncertainty, thereby affecting jobs and investment, and can hardly be construed as coming from a person who has the wellbeing of Scotland at heart. I would far rather hear about how the Scottish Hovernment is going to right the wrongs in our police service, education and health service. However, I am sure the Unionist cause will be delighted with Mr Salmond's words. He remains their secret weapon.

Bob MacDougall,

Oxhill, Kippen, Stirlingshire.