THE First Minister was surely whistling in the dark as she claimed in her comment piece that the “SNP has an unparalleled position of strength” ('Our opponents are in chaos', Comment, October 8). The general election saw the SNP lose considerable support, along with many of its MPs. While they are clearly still the largest individual party in Scotland, as reflected not only in that election but also in the latest opinion polls, nevertheless the momentum appears to be with  the SNP’s opponents. Equally, a clear overall majority have signalled their disappointment in the SNP’s decade in power, seeking to have their voice heard in the face of continued force-feeding by the SNP with the rhetoric of division and grievance.

Nicola Sturgeon now seeks to make her case off the back of criticism of the UK government and the Brexit process. Yet she shows a marked reluctance to have any public scrutiny of how she proposes an independent Scotland would force a second referendum, or the detailed rationale for the economic case for a Scotland without the underpinning of the UK. As for membership of the EU, upon which apparently the case for independence now relies, even some of the SNP’s own core supporters recognize the inconsistency of pursuing ‘self-determination’ through becoming a junior partner in the EU’s ever closer union project. 

Keith Howell, West Linton