THE intriguing thing about Kevin McKenna's belief in the necessity for independence is that he doesn't actually attempt to make a positive case for independence ("Independence is no longer a nice idea, it's a necessity", The Herald, January 26). There is a case to be made, and Mr McKenna makes it, that Brexit is stupidity on stilts, that the Tories are indeed malevolent and that Labour has failed to deliver clear leadership on the way forward for the UK. And, as Mr McKenna hints, the SNP is not the answer to any question of competent governance either. But these are all negative tropes: they fail to make any positive case that independence is the answer to the problems we face.

And while emphasising the failings elsewhere, the article does not address the reality of breaking up the UK. So no mention of the £15 billion annual transfer from the UK to Scotland, a sum that would be lost immediately on severance. No mention of the fact that the UK is Scotland's closest and biggest export market, accounting for four times the value of our exports to the EU. And by the way, we would be out of the EU as well, so no relief there. WTO here we come. No mention of the need for a currency, a central bank, foreign currency reserves and a credit record for the borrowing that would be inevitable in the circumstances. No mention of the hard border at Gretna and the costs of that to our economy. All of these problems and more were highlighted in the SNP's own Inclusive Growth Commission Report, but no solution is proffered there or by Mr McKenna.

While he makes much of the failures of Brexit, he misses the main lesson of that benighted project: that breaking up a union between and among states is fiendishly difficult. We see the shambles of breaking off from the EU after 45 years. How much more of a shambles if trying to disentangle a 300-year-old union? Brexit also shows how such ill-prepared adventurism can cause all sorts of splits in a society. Indeed, these splits were evident in Scotland during the 2014 referendum campaign and we would not be free of them in a re-run, but Mr McKenna gives them no weight nor even any consideration.

So it is possible to agree with him that the country is in a difficult place at the moment and that political leadership is noticeable by its failure. But it is not possible to see, and Mr McKenna has not made the case, that all or any of the problems we face would be improved by adding independence to the poisonous brew. Indeed, it is hard to see how independence would not increase our woes.

Last week the First Minister prepared her supporters to go out and make the case for independence on the doorsteps. The problem for her and for them is that all the hard facts and evidence, including the SNP's own publications, show that there is no positive case for independence. And while Mr McKenna is entitled to hold the minority view, and against the evidence, that it might be nice, it is certainly not a necessity.

Alex Gallagher,

Labour Councillor Ward 8, North Ayrshire Council,

12 Phillips Avenue, Largs.

THERE are many people who think Theresa May should have resigned when she suffered such a huge defeat on her flagship Brexit policy. In a first-past-the-post Parliament I tend to agree. Holyrood, with its more proportional voting system, offers more leeway for the party of Government.

The present SNP Government is struggling to get a budget through against united (though for dissimilar reasons) opposition (" Budget talks collapse as Greens object to council cuts", The Herald, January 28). As a budget is an essential government function, then it should let it be known that defeat would be a resignation issue. Give the disparate opposition parties their place in the sun, form a coalition government and enact the few policies they have espoused with the sources of funding they claim to have identified. The rest of us can kick back and watch the “fun”.

I think a new election would come pretty quick, but it would clear Scotland’s political air and a give a new mandate for the winner. All good.

GR Weir,

17 Mill Street, Ochiltree.

NICOLA Sturgeon, perhaps understandably, is impatient with Theresa May's apparent inflexibility to shift from her Chequers Brexit proposal and offer a Plan B. There are, however, parallels with Ms Sturgeon's own behaviour on constitutional matters.

The SNP leader won't stray from her Plan A – strict adherence to nationalist dogma and independence. The people of Scotland of course voted against her in 2014 and virtually every opinion poll since, predicts the same result. Yet Ms Sturgeon doggedly carries on, without a Plan B – she is determined we leave the UK, just as the UK is leaving the EU.

Yet, in the medium term, she does have a Plan B of sorts. She knows her demand for another independence referendum will be rejected by Downing Street. Her Plan B is clearly to convert that rejection into a grievance to nurture until the next Scottish election. Ms Sturgeon will then relentlessly campaign for a nationalist majority in 2021, followed by an independence referendum in 2023/24 and achieving Plan A: separating Scotland from the rest of the UK.

Martin Redfern,

Woodcroft Road, Edinburgh.

A WEEK may be a long time in politics, but it is nothing to the length of time during which Alexander McKay (Letters, January 26) has been predicting the demise of the SNP. And I don’t think his prediction will prove any more accurate now than ever in the last few decades.

The charges which Alex Salmond is facing may be a problem for him, but it is not a problem for the SNP. Nicola Sturgeon has said unequivocally that plans for a new independence referendum will proceed as anticipated ("Salmond charges will not hurt case for independence, insists Sturgeon", The Herald, January 28). Still less is it a problem for the grassroots independence movement, which by all reports is steadily gathering strength.

As the Brexit fiasco descends into unimagined levels of sheer stupidity, and the two main Westminster parties display their incompetence more shamelessly by the day, the need for Scotland to escape from this morass could hardly be clearer. Despite what Unionist commentators may fondly dream, the fact that a prominent member of the independence movement is soon to appear in court has no bearing on this.

Derrick McClure,

4 Rosehill Terrace, Aberdeen.

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