Letters: Would England have tholed Scotland swinging the Brexit vote?

Furthermore, Mr Wilson claimed that the SNP was obsessed with breaking up the UK when the constitution was not a real issue. We can only wonder what planet he inhabits. For example, in the EU referendum, Scotland voted two to one to remain, with the English vote overwhelming the outcome. So, we have been dragged out against our will.

What, I wonder, would the English have made of it if the result had been (leaving to one side the Welsh and Northern Ireland votes which virtually cancelled one another out) England to remain 29 million, 30 million to leave, with Scotland voting, say, 1.8 million to remain, and 0.5 to leave. Would English politicians have accepted that England was deprived of leaving with the UK figures being 30.8 million to remain, and 30.5 million to leave on account of the Scottish result?

And Mr Wilson sees no constitutional crisis when Scotland’s option is outnumbered. I invite him to have a look at the disaster facing Scottish fishermen, and other exporters here who are having their businesses destroyed by Brexit bureaucracy.

Douglas R Mayer, Currie.

* LET us imagine a situation where Scotland is an independent nation within the EU like, for example, the Republic of Ireland, Denmark, or the Netherlands. Does anyone think there would be any desire to abandon that status to join England and Wales in a body called the United Kingdom? No, me neither.

John Jamieson, Ayr.

IS UK UNITED IN NAME ONLY?

PETER A Russell (Letters, January 18) writes that Nicola Sturgeon could have sought to “to build on [the 2014 No vote] a consensus going forward for the good of Scotland and the UK”.

In suggesting this, does he go as far as “no matter what”? After all, the UK we voted, narrowly, to remain part of was still in the EU. The Scottish electorate were advised that the best way to leave the EU was to vote Yes, when as things worked out, it was actually to vote No. The balance of votes in Scotland in the 2016 referendum was 62 per cent Remain, a more decisive result than any other part of the UK, and more decisive than the Leave outcome for the UK as a whole. I might also point out that Northern Ireland, having also voted remain, will stay in the single market. Would this arrangement have been impossible for Scotland?

Moreover, there are clear indications that the Westminster Government intends to undermine the devolution settlement whenever it can. We are only out of the EU for less than three weeks, and we already know that the ability of the Scottish Government to set food standards will be undermined by the Single Market Act 2020. We also know that the replacement for EU funding schemes, which were run from Scotland under the aegis of the Scottish Government, will from now on be managed from Westminster.

Just yesterday (January 17), former BBC presenter Gavin Esler, someone who describes himself as having a “strong unionist inclination”, wrote “Most Scots are scunnered by events at Westminster since 2016, notably by Brexit and what they see as the incompetence of Boris Johnson and his Government”, which suggests that if Mr Russell wants to reverse support for independence, he would do well to talk to his friends in the south, for in large part it is them pushing the ball toward the hole (to use Alex Salmond’s analogy).

However, the matter is urgent, if Esler is correct in his conclusion that “the United Kingdom is now united in name only”. Given that support for independence now stands at levels that in 2014 were considered at least very difficult and perhaps impossible, it is becoming hard to resist that conclusion. However, Mr Russell’s argument is “you’ve had your referendum”. How democratic is that?

Alasdair Galloway, Dumbarton.

FISHING INDUSTRY HAS ITSELF TO BLAME

THE Scottish fishing industry voted, almost unanimously, to leave the EU and now wails that it can't get its produce to its main market – Europe.

The fishing industry's vote threw the balance in favour of Brexit. Now fisherfolk complain they have to sail to Denmark in order to sell their catch to Europe and apparently want the rest of us to pay for their petrol.

Perhaps they are only guilty of believing Boris Johnson. That doesn't absolve them from wanting what they eventually got.

Live with it, fisherfolk. We're all having to live with the consequences of your vote.

Steve Brennan, Coatbridge.

FM IS OUTSHINING THE PM

ALEXANDER McKay (Letters, January 16) is unhappy with the level of exposure that our First Minister receives on BBC Scotland in relation to her daily briefings. I have to point out to him that being in the spotlight in this manner can be a double-edged sword given that she regularly has to contend with members of the media trying to trip her up at the daily briefings. In addition, Ms Sturgeon has to deal with fairly hostile questioning from the three unionist parties at Holyrood.

I would suggest to Mr McKay that the SNP's enhanced approval ratings are down to the leadership qualities displayed by the First Minister which are in sharp contrast to those exhibited by his favoured Government ministers at Westminster, including the Prime Minister. Until they show a better grasp of the situation, the SNP will continue to benefit from comparison with the opposition in the UK.

Gordon Evans, Glasgow G73.

WHY LEAVE THE POWERHOUSE?

AS the SNP prepares to launch yet another independence taskforce ("SNP slated for creating an ‘independence taskforce’", The Herald, January 18), we should all remember that Scotland is an integral part of the United Kingdom: a nation that produced a world-class coronavirus vaccine, a nation that identified dexamethasone as a life-saver for intensive care patients, a nation that secured unrivalled access to a portfolio of vaccines, and a nation that does more gene sequencing than the rest of the world put together.

Does the SNP really want to sever itself from the great science powerhouse that is the UK?

Dr Ian Forbes, Glasgow G41.

SNP WILL NOT DEVOLVE POWER

WHILE I agree with Ian Moir (Letters, January 18) that we should take action to halt the current centralisation of power in Scotland to Holyrood, I fear it is almost a lost cause as far as the politics of Holyrood now stand.

Since the SNP has recently launched its “independence taskforce”, even during a pandemic, it would be contra-indicated that its real motive was to devolve its power to local authorities.

Although in modern times the rot possibly started before we had Holyrood with the abolition of royal burghs and local police courts in the mid 1970s, the SNP has not been slow to spot opportunities. It has further indulged on its ineffective grasp of education, the NHS and Scottish law by any means such as centralising our police service and even gaining power over our income tax levels.

It seems obvious to me that we will not see any form of power devolved to local levels while the SNP controls the Scottish Parliament. The creation of an SNP taskforce to pursue and gain independent power is surely in itself a convincing indication of the fact that the settled will of the Scottish people is of no consequence in the march of the SNP with its lust for control.

Bill Brown, Milngavie.

GOING DUTCH

THE Dutch Government has resigned en masse for its mistakes ("PM and Cabinet resign in welfare cash row", The Herald, January 16). Let’s hope that idea catches on.

John Dunlop, Ayr.

SEND FOR THE NURSE

I WOULD like to thank David J Crawford (Letters, January 18) for giving me my first giggle of the morning, and in these difficult times that isn't easy. Having known him for many years, I know I shall add to his "'F" count by agreeing with much of what Dr Gerald Edwards writes and if we had people like him in government, we might be in a better situation now. Better call for the nurse, David.

Jenifer Smith, Waterfoot.

GUILTY SECRET

IN response to your contributor Iain McLeod (Letters, January 16) re a recent silence about Donald Trump being half-Scottish: wheesht!

Ian Sommerville, Largs.

Read more: Letters: Salmond inquiry should now be sent to a judicial review