THE leaked “dirty tricks” plan to prevent Scotland from having any say on its own governance makes it obvious that this present government will not allow another referendum during the term of this parliament.

From the lack of opposition being put up by Labour, and the fact they are bereft of any agenda or ideas to rectify the present calamity that besets us, that duration is likely to be at least 10 years. As Ruth Wishart stated on Monday, we could suffer so much damage to our economy during that time that we might never recover from it, and if we did it would take a long time and lots of financial sacrifice.

Since there is no possibility of Boris allowing another independence referendum, we are not so much looking for a Plan B as looking for a new Plan A –something that will work and that Boris can’t stop. We have had previous correspondence from others, much more knowledgeable than I am, who have alluded to a previous election manifesto in which it was stated that in the event of a majority of seats being won by the SNP this would be taken as an instruction from the people of Scotland to immediately negotiate for independence. That is not having another referendum, but actually starting independence negotiations – ergo, referendum not needed!

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We need something like that in place for the next Holyrood election. Whether they put this as a majority of SNP seats or a majority of seats held by independence-supporting parties would be up for discussion. But there’s not going to be another referendum. Boris has made that very clear. So, a legal means of ascertaining the desire for independence without a referendum has to be found. A clear response by the electorate to such a clause inserted as part of the election manifesto cannot be misconstrued. If it’s in the manifesto, and the people vote for it, then it is reasonable to assume that the people have demanded it.

It would be even better if every independence-supporting party put such a clause in their manifesto too. If that were to happen it would have to be that “in the event of there being a majority of independence-supporting MSPs elected then it would be an instruction to the Scottish Government (and not just the SNP) to negotiate for independence”. Since all polls show there is likely to be a majority of SNP-held seats with increases in other indy-supporting parties, like the Greens, then there’s every possibility that the numbers of seats held will be sufficient to make this an undeniable instruction to the Scottish Government for a unilateral declaration of independence, if Boris doesn’t agree to negotiate. Don’t forget that polls indicate that there might even be a majority of the electorate actually voting for indy-supporting parties.

The other action I would like to see our First Minister take would be to place a Bill before Holyrood bringing forward the election to January at the latest. I can’t see the Greens turning down this opportunity as their present ratings also indicate they are likely to gain seats. Thus, it should be passed and the election brought forward. Such an action would negate any risk of Boris getting into Queen Elizabeth House and taking over the running of Scotland before the later election if it was kept at the present date in May. The Scottish Government could then take over Queen Elizabeth House, change the name to “Mary Queen of Scots House” and use it for the same sort of revenue and customs offices that Boris obviously intended to use it.

There are lots of other things I would like to see happening quickly after that, like our National Bank being immediately established, and steps taken to design our own new currency, but those things can wait. Getting independence is the most important issue at the moment. We do need to get moving on it!

Charlie Kerr

Glenrothes

READ MORE: Scottish independence: Dirty tricks show we need a Plan B more than ever​

IN 2014, David Cameron promised Scots who were about to vote in indyref1 that the only way to guarantee staying in the EU was to vote No. Many wavering voters were swayed by that promise and we know the result. Immediately after the referendum, his party went flat-out to convince the UK public to leave the EU with a mixture of lies, deception and hatred. We know that result too, to our cost. We have since been treated with contempt by the Tories in their reckless pursuit of colonial glory, we have been ignored, cut of any discussion and face a bleak future as second-class citizens in our own country unless we can break out of this unhappy marriage. We should not be so easily fooled next time, because the moment indyref2 is called, the barrage of lies and deceit will start all over again.

And every time we hear that Tory trope about a “once-in-a-generation vote”, we should remind readers, listeners, viewers and interviewers of the shameful lies told by the Tories last time to dishonestly influence voters. We should do so every time we hear it.

Alan Anderson

Portlethen