HAVING watched the Union-supporting opposition protagonists in the recent televised leaders’ programmes, they have learned nothing from the dramatically changed circumstances of Scottish politics in 2021. In fact their “stuck in the past”, Better Together stance has remained at the core of their politics and policies.

Instead of seeing the dramatic shift in Scottish attitudes to the UK Union, they forlornly expect the Scottish public to continue to buy into “SNP bad” and sit on their hands while the most right-wing Westminster government ever marginalises our parliament, erodes our devolution settlement and holds the will of the Scottish people to decide its future in contempt.

The Tory party, the Labour Party and the LibDems in Scotland seem to think that by sticking the word “Scottish” in front of their nomenclatures they represent Scotland. Their MSPs have shown, particularly in this pandemic, that the so-called working together going forward mantra of Anwar Sarwar, which he states ad nauseum, is completely hollow.

All we have witnessed, particularly from the Tories, is constant reference to “no to independence, baseless ultra-critical opposition to all things SNP and a complete disregard of the fact that their Tory Westminster masters make direct attacks on the very parliament they represent. The Tory MSPs that sit in Holyrood are not independent, they are the “lap dogs” of their Tory English masters and as a consequence when their leader in Scotland speaks, what you get is not well-constructed, costed manifesto policies or pledges that move Scotland forward but one objective and one objective ONLY, and that is to STOP the SNP achieving a majority in Holyrood.

Why is this their one and only objective? The reason is that Johnson and his cohorts desperately want to tell Scotland that there is no majority for an independence referendum and this legitimises his right to refuse a Section 30 order. He has no interest in the number of Tory MSPs, no interest in “Scottish” policies, but actively encourages tactical voting by allowing Tories to vote for other parties. He clearly sees the Tory party in Scotland as the sacrificial lamb on the altar of UK British nationalism.

Sadly the Tory leadership in Scotland are the willing participants in this gerrymandering tragedy. The reward, as we all know, is a place in the Lords or hanging on to your Westminster seat as insurance against disaster. No long-term loyalty to Scotland here then! I clearly understand why the bosses in London want to control and direct their Tories in Scotland to their own ends. Sadly there will be no long-term future for this party unless they embrace Scottish independence and become the genuine “Conservative Party of Scotland”.

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Much stranger to me is why the ever-shrinking Labour and the LibDems continue to plough the anti-independence furrow. Even now their leaders cannot rid themselves of their Unionist credentials and continue to hoodwink the Scots that they have the policies and ideas to improve their lives yet continue to defer in the end to their London bosses. Survival is the key issue for these two parties and this will only come with them embracing independence. Is it already too late for them?

The key question for voters in 2021 is whether Scotland can afford the present status quo: a London-dominated, bankrupt, broken, post-Brexit, isolated UK or a Scotland free to make its own decisions and take its place in the world.

It’s a no-brainer, is it not!

Dan Wood

Kirriemuir

I, FOR one, support our First Minister’s preferred priority of making sure Scotland is safe from any further pandemic increase before a referendum. She also states that she intends to hold the referendum (given a majority SNP government) in the first half of her new term of administration.

I could interpret this as a confidence in Scotland being free sooner rather than later of any further danger from the Covid19 pandemic. In the meantime, let us not forget that members of our population are still dying from this deadly virus.

While the current situation prevails, we cannot, we must not go out chapping doors or delivering leaflets or erecting Yes stalls in our town centres. In other words Scotland is not ready to campaign for a second independence referendum until our government deems it safe to do so.

We still need to convince many of our people. The polls are still in the affirmative but only just, being 51% according to yesterday’s polling indication. This has dropped quite a few points from several weeks ago, no thanks to the SNP internal problems of recent weeks.

However, we still have a majority waiting to be grown with a real objective campaign. We have loads of positive information which was not available in 2014. Even proof of a better pension to help persuade those of the older generation who are still not convinced.

We also now have 70 or more per cent of their grandchildren on our side, which will help to swell the much-needed majority increase.

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So let’s all be a wee bit more patient about when to hold the independence referendum. But let’s keep using the bluff and bluster the Tories insist on creating to our advantage, whether it be in Holyrood or Westminster.

Alan Magnus-Bennett

Fife

I THINK most of us have never lost the 2014 spirit, despite the morning after and subsequent betrayals by Westminster that followed (‘We must rekindle the spirit of 2014’, April 16). Might I suggest that unity and common purpose begins at home, nae offence mind. Not doing this only plays into Westminster’s hands. Time we got band back on the road for a reunion and a final gig before some of us fall off the perch.

Des McFarlane

via thenational.scot