BRIAN Quail (Letters, March 8) accuses me of cynicism, but I fear it is Mr Quail who cannot see the wood for the trees. An independent Scotland may indeed move nuclear weapons from its soil. But it does not and cannot get rid of them in toto. And indeed their maintenance within the rest of the UK can only be entrenched by removing those in Scotland who argue against their existence. Surely the logic of Mr Quail’s argument should be to maintain the Union in order that he can work for their definitive elimination within the only government that can achieve this?

And surely too it is the ultimate cynical sleight of hand to pretend that simply moving nuclear weapons around constitutes their elimination?

Hugh Andrew,

West Newington House,

10 Newington Road,

Edinburgh.