I AGREE with Alyn Smith MEP that the Scottish Government’s latest Scotland’s Place in Europe report is a “solid piece of serious work” (Scottish Government is demonstrating the grown-up approach to Brexit, The National, January 18), but it will fall on deaf ears in London. The importance to Scotland of freedom of movement (the F word, as Alyn puts it) will be completely ignored, because England wants to curb immigration.

Both Labour and the Tories oppose staying in the single market and customs union, while the Tories will reach some kind of trade agreement with the EU that will be trumpeted as the best deal possible.

The recent sluggish growth in the Scottish economy compared with the UK is a foretaste of things to come: without control over our population, resources and economy I fear we will be too weak to vote for independence and will cling ever harder to the apparently stronger UK.

Despite four votes already opposing Brexit, our only hope of avoiding this tragedy is an even stronger vote in favour of staying in the single market and customs union. Let’s get organised now.

Robert Fraser
Edinburgh