HAVING been on the losing side in the recent two referenda (Scotland and Europe) I am more concerned than ever about the future prosperity of Scotland. Our country will suffer disproportionately within the UK by most accounts after Brexit. Given that 62 per cent of resident Scots voted against what I believe will go down in history as one of the greatest acts of self-harm in peace time by any advanced nation, there should be an opportunity further down the road (I would estimate in about three years) for a second Scottish independence referendum. When, or if, that happens a renewed Yes campaign will need to be fully united behind a coherent strategy.

I have come to the conclusion that such a strategy should be independence within the European Free Trade Association (Efta), as enjoyed by Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

In some respects this would offer the best of both worlds to Scotland: full access to the single market, the biggest trade bloc in the world yet with an appeasing factor for our EU reluctant fishermen as Efta does not require affiliation to the Common Agricultural and Fisheries Policies.

It would also remove the much used cudgel employed by Unionists of a “hard border” between an independent Scotland as a full EU member and its apres-Brexit English neighbours. Efta members are free to negotiate their own separate trade deals and border arrangements with anyone outside the EU. And why would an England-dominated “Remainder” of the UK want a border when it exports more to Scotland than it imports?

Efta membership would give an independent Scotland a vital protection against the impact of Brexit while at the same time having the capability of assuaging some of the fears of the less committed Unionists among us.

If such a policy were lucidly explained I am sure that sufficient among the more reluctant No voters in 2014 could be persuaded to change their minds. And that has to be done if Scotland is ever to attain a position of self-determination. The alternative of an even more London-dominated, isolationist UK does not bear thinking about.

Roger Graham,

23 Cullen Crescent,

Inverkip.

YOUR article “2017: Corbyn and Labour emerge from the wilderness” (January 5) does not mention that, despite Tory internal feuding, Theresa May’s government’s miserable economic performance and the continuing Brexit negotiations debacle, Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour has yet to put daylight between itself and the Tories in the polls.

Mr Corbyn thinks he can borrow long-standing SNP policies on zero tuition fees, no bedroom tax and so on and no-one will notice. He also thinks that challenging SNP to mitigate Tory cuts while Labour fails to mitigate them in Wales will go unnoticed too. Then there is Labour’s “clear”, “consistent” position on Brexit. Does anyone know what it is? And what about the party’s confused positions on Trident and austerity with failures to whip MPs to vote against the Tories in several key votes.

If Labour had a united party, a capable leader and the courage to fight Brexit, it could be 10 percentage points or more ahead of the Tories. It could be in a position to force a vote of no confidence and another general election with the help of some Tory Remainers. That it cannot do any of these things is down to Mr Corbyn’s leadership and Labour’s internal divisions.

Scotland has a choice between being governed from Westminster with its increasingly isolationist view of the world and “taking back control” to govern ourselves. And who knows: after some years we might have a genuinely Scottish Labour party fit to govern.

Dr Ron Dickinson,

Flat 8, 12 Kirklee Gate, Glasgow.

IN a weekend interview, Nicola Sturgeon insisted independence must remain an option (“Sturgeon: We can fight Brexit horror show with spirit of assertiveness”, The Herald, January 8).

Since last year’s General Election, many dyed-in-the-wool Nationalists have been despairing and pro-UK supporters feeling upbeat. The SNP lost half a million votes and more seats than the Tories across the UK. It achieved 36.9 per cent of the vote; nowhere near what’s needed to reverse the September 2014 defeat.

The opposing factions’ reaction is understandable.Yet those who believed Ms Sturgeon when she promised to put her UK break-up plans on pause and focus on the day job were naive, as she has made clear. Her opening 2018 speech wasn’t about Scotland’s public services; it was about independence.

The SNP’s primary objective is to separate us from the rest of the UK; everything else is subjugated to that endgame. Yet election results and opinion polls show we don’t believe we must leave the UK because we’re leaving the EU.

But it’s impossible for Ms Sturgeon to stop: independence is why the SNP’s exists; it’s what the First Minister is hard-wired to strive for.

Martin Redfern,

Woodcroft Road,

Edinburgh.

LABOUR’S refusal to join with the SNP and other progressive parties to build a broad coalition to keep the UK within the single market and customs union is deeply troubling. It reveals a toxic combination of lack of vision and lack of leadership.

The Tories, meanwhile, continue to pander to their base and paper over their internal divisions for narrow party advantage. Isn’t it ironic that, of the three main parties at Westminster, the only one standing up for the best interests of the UK is the SNP? In 2018, independence may begin to look like the common sense, continuity option, and staying within the post-Brexit UK like a leap in the dark.

Paddy Farrington,

46 Marchmont Road, Edinburgh.

SO Nicola Sturgeon wants to reframe the case for independence based on “a new spirit of Scottish assertiveness” and reaffirms that trying to derail or otherwise belittle the Brexit process continues to be viewed by the SNP as the main route to trying to engineer another independence referendum .

Your Political Editor, Tom Gordon, reports that Ms Sturgeon’s comments indicate that the SNP wants to reframe the debate “in terms of assertiveness, suggesting Yes voters are strong-willed and No voters cowards”. She must hope that the voters of Scotland do not pick up on that vibe, as implying that 55 per cent of your electorate are cowards is hardly the way to win people over and influence them to vote for you.

Keith Howell,

White Moss, West Linton,

Peeblesshire.