WHEN I joined the SNP in 1974, we all knew what the SNP stood for: independence. From the current election campaign in Shetland, it is so much harder to tell.
I have received five leaflets from the SNP, so a voter should know what the SNP are standing for, but not so.
Three leaflets from the local candidate, and not a mention of independence or a referendum; two SNP Highlands and Islands region leaflets and if you search very carefully you will find the one paragraph of four lines that talks about a referendum. Is this a Scotland-wide strategy?
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Utterly bizarre – you have to read Tory leaflets to find out what the SNP are standing for.
Somehow, on this extremely vague prospectus, it turns out that the First Minister does not intend holding a referendum on EU membership if or when Scotland becomes independent.
So, indyref2 becomes a double referendum, with two issues run together in one referendum question. I cannot be the only one who feels this is a highly suspect approach, dishonest even.
What message does this send to the one-third of SNP voters who voted to leave the EU in 2016, adding to the one million-plus Leave voters in Scotland?
There should be an open and honest debate and referendum on independence, followed by another open and honest debate and referendum on EU membership. We are all democrats, so who could disagree with that suggestion?
Has the First Minister forgotten that in Scotland the people are sovereign? With a dodgy question, voters are to be denied the democratic right to choose their future.
It would appear that the only view that matters is the First Minister’s, as she said holding a referendum on EU membership was “not my policy”.
Brian Nugent
Restore Scotland candidate, Shetland
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