Why will things be any different after a 2021 SNP win at Holyrood?

It seems it would then be “impossible to oppose Scottish democracy”. However, if such democracy is already being opposed in the face of a pro-independence majority at Holyrood, on what basis are we to assume that would change in the event of a similar majority being obtained there next year, especially in view of the Tories’ repeated refrain about the 2014 referendum being a “once-in-a-generation” plebiscite?

READ MORE: Angus Robertson: Freedom is coming ... it’s time Tories accept it

What is more, didn’t Scotland at the recent General Election return a pro-independence majority and still find her democracy opposed? The question is, for how much longer are the troops to be marched up to the top of the hill only to be marched down again? It is becoming thoroughly disheartening. 
2020 has got to be the year we resist Westminster diktat and proceed with an independence referendum on Scotland’s future, and I fervently hope the First Minister will do precisely that and ignore Angus’s plea.

Rev Douglas Whyte
Dalbeattie

AS a long-time SNP member I am, like everyone, keen to see independence arrive as soon as possible. The SNP Scottish Government has won mandate after mandate after mandate for a second referendum. It seems unlikely to be granted, at least in the short term, but I am convinced that the Scottish Government is right to try and achieve a Section 30 order and to take whatever additional legal steps there may be.

We know the establishment will do everything in its power to prevent this. They lied in 2014, they lied in 20016, and there is no reason to think that they will not lie in the future to preserve the status quo.

This is why I am prepared to wait until next year’s Scottish election to resolve the problem. But to achieve this I believe the SNP must be clear in its manifesto that a vote for the SNP is a vote not for another referendum, but to begin withdrawal from the Union. We should also ask the other independence-supporting parties to make the same commitment. Then, if there is a majority of independence-supporting parties in the Scottish Parliament, the government should begin proceedings to leave the Union.

At last year’s election I decided that if the Greens did not stand in my local ward, Angus, I would lend them my second vote at the Scottish election. I will do so if they commit as I have described above.

John Henderson
via email

BRITISH nationalist MP Douglas Ross, recently promoted in the Scotland office cos everyone else has been booted out by the Scottish electorate, believes that Scotland should not have another referendum for “50 years”. He seems to believe this equates to “once in a generation”.

Let me put that into context. Douglas Ross believes a 20-year-old today, too young to vote in 2014, should not get any say on their constitutional preference until 2070. They will be 70 years of age at this point, and at current rates of Labour ineptitude will have seen another 10 Tory governments Scotland did not vote for.

To suggest this is dictatorship and undemocratic would be putting it mildly. The electorate is a constantly moving thing, where every day new generations of voters come of age and join the voting roll.

You can no more deny any one of those the right to choose their own future than you can hold back the tide. No matter how much the Tories channel their inner Canute, independence is coming and it is because we have already moved away from that last generation of 2014 and into a new political era.

Henry Malcolm
Dundee

I AM extremely concerned that in the next months the Scottish Government and parliament will continue to be assaulted by an ever-increasing barrage of lying propaganda and attacks from Boris Johnston and his Nazi-styled propaganda machine. I also fear for the independence of our judiciary.

I can see we are in a very weak position to combat this, as most of the media are biased against the Scottish Parliament, with the limited powers it has now, or an independent Scotland. We therefore will have to find alternate ways to debunk the lies and and show the misinformation for what it is.

The National produces badges of various types. As a first step in the defence of the truth, produce a badge with a suitable picture of Boris Johnson’s face and the words LIAR LIAR underneath. Flyers with a list of all his lies and misinformation to date could be supplied with the badge, so anyone disputing what is on the badge could be enlightened. The list could be updated in The National on a regular basis.

I also think that a team should be assembled with the sole objective of not just finding ways of defending against the lies and misinformation but actively bringing the liars to task. 

A Stevenson
Falkirk

CAN we please move on from the negative responses to the predictable reply from “our” PM? First Minister, get the message out about what Scotland’s future will look like as an independent nation. I know many people who at the moment are still unsure about our cause, but will be open to all of the good things that await us when we can make our own decisions.

The chance to make our country a world leader in many areas is there if we get the message out now. We need to rise above the naysayers. Let’s not miss the boat. Be positive and get the “troops” mobilised.

Keith Taylor 
Ellon, Aberdeenshire