THE extreme impatience of some of our Yes community for indyref2 is very understandable and does not worry me too much. It is when this impatience is combined with assertions that “Brexit, the Irish border and Europe should not be issues related to that of Scottish independence” that I become concerned. Because everything affecting the UK or just England – and how these may be governed now and in the future – are huge present issues which affect Scotland. Anybody trying to work out how to vote for the best in our second referendum cannot ignore them when making their decision.

For some people this will be difficult. No-one will deny that the UK (these days I have to ask myself whether it really exists at all!), together with the Republic of Ireland, and Scotland itself, have all been thrown into a currently very complicated and problematic situation, as a result of: an unnecessary referendum thought up by David Cameron; the very misguided decision arrived at therein, mainly by the English electorate; the clumsy handling of the consequent “negotiations”; then topped by the shambles created in our Mother of Incompetent Parliaments.

But as a result, a very large proportion of the Scottish electorate must now be coming to the unavoidable conclusion that the only way we will be able to escape from this mess, and from becoming a permanent victim of the inevitable decline of England’s UK, is to achieve independence for our country.

However, some Scots who are now thinking this way have had their feelings about the European Union somewhat poisoned (by the press?) over the decades in which the UK has been a member state, and this opens up the danger that these voters will not support the cause of independence on the crucial day of Scotland’s second referendum.

These fellow Scots have got to be asked to pause and alert themselves to the single, fundamental problem in the situation that would face an independent Scotland freed from a British Union (which always fails us), but also having no close involvement with the European Union which includes all the countries to our north, east and south. The problem is this: a Scotland cut adrift from both the British and European Unions would struggle, and quite likely fail to build trade successfully with the world as a whole, and would lose any prospect of developing the fair, contented society which needs the basis of a strong economy to underpin it.

Is this not very familiar to us now? Is it not the Brexiteers who want to launch their UK into this kind of situation, who want to turn their backs completely on the EU? Would this not mean a steep decline and possible failure of their country? Whether Theresa May’s present “deal” will or will not save UK plc from the Brexiteers’ foolish plan for the future, who knows? But we in an independent Scotland should not be so rash as to replicate their notions of ignoring the EU and setting up our own two-way trading arrangements with the huge plethora of countries around the world. Just the uncertainty generated as you work at trying to build such a monster series of trading relationships is enough to put the economy of a small country beyond repair. Look how leaving the EU and just declaring the intention of “trading freely with the world” is already unsteadying business and foreign trade in the UK. Don’t let’s make the same mistake for Scotland!

When Scotland leaves the UK, it has to – it MUST – at the first opportunity get itself either fully into, or straightforwardly involved with, some alternative trading group. THAT CAN ONLY BE THE EU! And we can either join, or associate ourselves more loosely by way of EEA/EFTA. Our Scots anti-EU voters have to face this. We should of course not force them into a decision by having both independence and EU involvement on the same ballot paper – one thing at a time – but potential Yessers who dislike the EU have got to make a mental decision not to scupper Scotland’s cause in advance because of their negative view of Europe.

Michael F Troon
Gauldry, Fife