It's time for the SNP to call out fake news from Unionists

Whether its the Westminster Government, the Unionist party members themselves or the pro-Union press, all derogatory remarks against our financial strength deserve immediate response and correction, most particularly from those elected to defend our interests. C’mon, stand up for self-belief instead of tearing yersels apart (as is more often publicised than our economic potential)!

Frustration among the independence movement is palpable as we are faced with repeated claims against our worth, our competence in management of the pandemic, scant mention of leadership in social house building, Scottish Government forward-thinking Fairer Scotland Action Plan, Child Poverty Act and any initiative designed to counter the determination by the Unionist movement to reinforce the message that we are too poor and incapable of coping without the help of big brother down south.

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A few reference pointers thrown in at every opportunity would soon hit the spot with those confused as to why the same folk who tell them we’re too poor and stupid to cope, yet continue to move heaven and earth to keep hold of us.

scotlandowntwofeet.blogspot.com by John Jappy or Scotland the Brief by Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp mentioned at every opportunity would for sure do no harm to our cause.

Since I write this in response to Lesley, her readily available film on Estonia – The Baltic Tiger might even tip the balance in the most sceptic and seal the deal we so desperately anticipate.
Tom Gray
Braco

I WAS amazed to hear talk of the report from academics at LSE about the economy of an independent Scotland with what to me seemed some totally illogical conclusions, of which two in particular stood out.

Firstly, there is no logic in claiming that the existence of a border between Scotland and England would deprive us of the 60% of our exports which currently cross it. Why? No country exports its surplus to another country which does not need or want it. If England needs to import so much from Scotland, will it instantly stop needing these?

One prime example might be the excess renewable electricity that is currently sent south via the grid, which we pay a high price to connect, where London area would get a subsidy. Would England suddenly not need this? If this was not an essential import for England, would there be ongoing planning to install a subsea interconnector from NE Scotland to Yorkshire?

The second point is the claim that Scotland rejoining the EU would create a hard border and damage trade. As long as England, as rUK, continued to have a trade agreement with the EU as it already has, we would be trading on those terms like every other EU member state.

I cannot believe that any serious academic could logically make the arguments quoted. It seems to me, therefore, that the purpose of this report is to try to persuade Scots that independence is a bad idea. I suspect some folk somewhere are really scared of losing the Scottish resources from which they benefit.

READ MORE: Kate Forbes slams LSE report on Scottish independence which ‘ignores growth’

Otherwise, they would be delighted at the opportunity to get rid of a millstone round their necks.
P Davidson
Falkirk

THE SNP drive to overwhelmingly win the 2021 Holyrood election is more important than the egos and aspirations of any individual or of any internal factions.

There has been a lot that has happened with the SNP that should not have happened. That is not to take sides but to emphasise the point that the collective aim of winning this election is the most important cause, and the reason for the SNP’s existence. Every other issue, irrespective how any individual may feel, is of secondary importance.

To further emphasise the point, I have a number of friends who are not members of the SNP but who have been political activists, in different party structures, all of their lives for the type and political structure they would like Scotland to be. They have individually decided, as they are not a single collective, to put aside their historical beliefs to vote for the SNP to win the 2021 election as the only route to deliver Scottish independence. After Scottish independence is achieved then is the time for them to exercise their democratic differences.

These are people with passion for their cause but level headed enough to recognise the reality. If my friends can temporarily put aside their long time convictions, some of which have been in their DNA, then it is not too much to ask for those in the SNP who are causing so much disruption to do likewise in pursuit of the common good.

To borrow a phrase, “now is not the time” for this internal fighting and factionalism, which the Unionist parties love and is part of their published strategy “to stoke up internal strife within the SNP with the hope of creating self destruction”.

The poles have consistently shown that Nicola Sturgeon is trusted above everyone else. Therefore the SNP have a winning leader in place.

The consensus among the SNP members at the National Assembly was that Mike Russell’s “Plan A/B” was the accepted way forward.

We now have a winning leader in Nicola and a plan. Everyone should now get behind her and bury their differences for the common good of winning the 2021 election for the SNP.

I will go one stage further and suggest that every member of the SNP should get a commitment from their MSP and MP that they are totally behind Nicola as the party leader and First Minister and the National Assembly Draft Plan for the independence referendum process. If the MSPs and MPs are not prepared to give this commitment then maybe they should be looking for another party.

I suggest that the party members will not forgive if we lose this election due to factionalism – the election is only ours to lose.

So let us all pull together and win big.
Stewart Dickson
Skirling by Biggar

THE UK Tory Government’s so-called “offer” to be “very willing to help Scotland with its vaccination roll-out programme” is a prime example of sheer brass-necked cheek. They probably think they can’t lose with breaking out this brazenly political con trick in the midst of the fight against a deadly pandemic.

Either 1.) Scotland’s government accepts the offer in which case Johnson and company will claim that shows that Scotland isn’t capable enough to develop and deliver an effective vaccination programme for its people, or

2.) Scotland’s government refuses the apparently reasonable and allegedly generous offer from a concerned Tory Government of additional help in which case they’ll claim Nicola Sturgeon is playing politics with the lives of the people of Scotland.

They do think we button up the back. They think we can’t look behind their politicking to examine the logic of that offer.

Logically, in making the offer of additional support for the Scottish Government, the Tory Government is stating it is prepared to do something special for Scotland that it is not offering to England, Wales or Northern Ireland.

Logically, by saying it can and will provide extra support, if Scotland’s Government will only sit up and beg for it, it is clear that what the UK Government is currently doing in Scotland is not as much as it should be doing for a nation which more than pays its dues as a nation within the United Kingdom.

Either way, this should be called out for what it is: a cynical political ploy designed to make it appear that Scotland would not survive without the support of Westminster.

If playing politics with the lives of Scotland’s people is what Johnson, Gove and Hancock are prepared to do now, during a pandemic, what they will get up to during an independence referendum can only be guessed at.

Whatever they throw at us, it won’t be pretty and we must be prepared to call out their shameless tactics for what they are and always will be.
Jim Gibson
Dundee

ON Thursday I saw, and heard, Jacob Rees-Mogg saying in Parliament how much the UK Government were helping out Scotland during the pandemic!

They are very graciously “sending” British soldiers to assist us, as if we were one of their Dominions.

That is despite the fact that our taxes go to pay for them too.

If they are so fed up of “subsidising” us, why don’t they just let us go?
Elizabeth Kane
Dundee

WHAT an excellent column by Andrew Tickell (The best laid plans..., January 31). To me, and I am sure other in our movement, his articles have always given valuable insight into the legal side of our fight. Sunday’s shone a searchlight on to the legal aspect of the indy struggle.

For those who are continually critical and who seem to focus on Johnson never agreeing a Section 30 order, or on the SNP government’s ambition to achieve a legal, internationally recognised referendum, Mr Tickell’s piece is required reading, understanding and being cognisant of, because it tells us so much and gives clarify on the legal road achieving for us an indyref2.

But the attempt to get legality is only one of two parts of our struggle; the other is a mass self-determination movement that will bolster and give strength and support to the legal campaign.
Bobby Brennan
Glasgow

I READ in The National (PM forced to defend trip to virus-hit lab, February 4) that Johnson thought it was “important” to “encourage” the vaccine production effort. The poor staff in Livingston obviously had to stop work, listen to Johnston bumbling his usual nonsense, and then watch bemused as he played with blue squirty stuff without a clue what he was doing. I’d say that far from helping, he almost certainly hindered the effort for the duration of his visit.
Derek Ball
Bearsden

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TORY peer and former jockey Baroness Dido Harding is taking us all for a ride when she claims that no one expected the Covid virus to mutate – well, no-one except those who understand how viruses work!

In yet another example of why this serial failure is so unsuitable for this current post, Harding reveals she is well out of her depth and is only in place due to the rampant cronyism within the Tory Government. Although this would mainly impact on how the virus is dealt with in England, there are repercussions for Scotland.

If the English health authorities can’t imagine a virus mutating then there is little hope they can successfully limit its spread. Let’s not also forget Scotland will be paying through the nose for Harding’s wages and all the other corrupt contracts handed out by the Tories.
Cllr Kenny MacLaren
Paisley