DAVID Cameron was able to call an EU referendum, even though most people in the UK did not want one, and he had scant support from Scotland with only one MP representing a Scottish seat. Today's letters (April 26) tend to assert that most Scots don’t want an independence referendum, based on polling, but that same polling gives the pro-independence SNP a huge lead in the polls rivals ("Poll: Only one in five wants indyref2 in the next two years", The Herald, April 26). How to square this constitutional circle?

If the SNP gains the number of Westminster seats forecast (51 out of 59), then it would be impossible for London to veto any proposed referendum (and the SNP might fight the election as a direct vote on independence, a la Margaret Thatcher), and Unionists would then be required to contest that referendum when they were at their lowest point, electorally. Yet I see absolutely no serious proposals from the Unionist side, to reach any consensus or compromise on the constitution. Federalism, confederalism, shared sovereignty and the like.

It may be that British nationalists simply don’t want to dilute Westminster’s hegemony, but they seem recklessly willing to bet the house on the turn of a (polling) card.

GR Weir,

17 Mill Street, Ochiltree.

AN opinion poll showed that only 21 per cent of Scots want an independence referendum before 2021 and support for independence is under 40 per cent. The same poll shows the SNP, the party proposing this unpopular proposition, miles ahead – roughly 20 per cent – of each of its.

This is only the starkest evidence of a phenomenon that has dogged Scotland for 12 years: voters are unimpressed by Labour, the Tories and the LibDems, the SNP seemed a viable option but not many took its obsessive nationalism seriously and voted it into power in 2007.

The opposition has been in various states of disarray ever since and so far hasn't produced the policies and leadership to offer an alternative government, either as one party or a coalition.

Until that happens the SNP and Greens will from a government in 2021 with an ambivalent clause tucked away in their manifestos enabling them to claim a mandate to batter us into submission on a referendum and independence.

Allan Sutherland,

1 Willow Row, Stonehaven.

Read more: One in five Scots back Nicola Sturgeon's Indyref2 plan

THEY may not be to Robert IG Scott's taste (Letters, April 26), but marches and demonstrations, if con-ducted responsibly, have their place in a democratic society, allowing people to express their opinions and support for their cause, whether that be climate change, gay rights, anti-war, or Scottish independence. However, Mr Scott is wrong to claim that all the electorate are seeing is marches and rallies; the SNP is in its third consecutive term at Holyrood, and has more MPs at Westminster than the Scottish Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties put together. As for Mr Scott's assertion that "the current position at Holyrood is unacceptable with a minority SNP government deciding on policies relating to Scotland", I would point out that the Scottish electorate can vote Holyrood governments out of office, unlike the position at Westminster, where the arithmetic adds up to Scotland being saddled with the governments England elects.

As Westminster wallows in the chaotic Brexit mess, Holyrood is providing calm and competent government, and it is not only the opinion polls which continue to show strong support for the SNP; at the latest test of public opinion at the ballot box, local government by-elections in Clackmannanshire Central and Leith Walk were both won by the SNP.

Ruth Marr,

99 Grampian Road, Stirling.

TODAY'S broadcast of BBC Politics Live (April 26) included some discussion of the case for Scottish in-dependence ,in the course of which one panel member, Nick Ferrari, who is apparently a journalist and broadcaster and not a car thief, revealed the interesting news that Scottish schools are now infested with rats. He seemed to be suggesting that this was something that should be considered by persons considering the case for Scottish independence, although I am not entirely sure whether he thought independence might make rat infestation more or less likely to occur.

Herald readers will no doubt wish to satisfy themselves of the rat-tolerance ratings of the various political parties should it become necessary in the future to elect the government in an independent Scot-land. The need for this circumspection is unlikely to be highlighted in any BBC political discussion, since these are invariably conducted based on an underlying assumption that an independent Scotland would be a one-party state governed in perpetuity by the SNP.

Willie Maclean,

48 Braehead Avenue, Milngavie.

BY next week I expect that climate change activists in Scotland will be disappointed that the SNP conference has not announced plans to oppose all exploration and production in Scotland’s North Sea.

Together with the Greens, the SNP constantly criticises the UK Government on environmental and climate change issues such as fracking while boasting of Scotland’s efforts on renewables. Ian Blackford states that “The UK Government must start taking this issue seriously and it must start now”. Meanwhile, we continue to produce hydrocarbons and import fracked gas for us or others to burn. This approach is like that of Norway, making a big gesture out of its Sovereign wealth fund not investing in hydrocarbons while continuing to issue exploration licences in the Arctic.

The effect of removing Scotland’s internal carbon emissions from the global total is negligible. An im-mediate ban on North Sea oil won’t happen because even the SNP realises the electorate know that such measures would severely affect living standards and aspirations. The SNP is willing to risk harming the economy for its separatist obsession – but not to save the planet.

Its approach on global warming is to pretend to be doing something so that it can say “It wisnae me, it was the bad boys that did it”. The flatlands around the moral high ground are littered with the bones of fallen hypocrites.

Whether we’re in or out of the EU, Europe will do tits own thing on emissions but the most effective use of our votes as individuals is to use them within the UK to influence the reduction of the UK’s overall larger effect on global warming. Any strategy must consider the disruptive effects on our socie-ty and mitigate against them.

Mark Openshaw,

42 Earlswells Road, Cults, Aberdeen.