THE incompetent unelected UK Prime Minister, fresh from her failed attempt to slip through a “mini-Budget” (so called to avoid scrutiny by the Office for Budget Responsibility), has just announced that, irrespective of any decision by the UK Supreme Court, Scotland will be refused permission to hold an independence referendum.
This makes it abundantly clear that the UK Government has no respect for the Scottish people’s views, no respect for their own legal system, and will obstruct with every chance they get the Scottish Government in its valid attempt to address this issue in a rational way.
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It is now long past time that the Scottish Government responded effectively and directly to these Tory attacks. Most of us have had enough of “turning the other cheek”. We must show these insolent incompetents a wee bit about social reality.
If the Westminster government has no respect for the court established by them, then clearly Scotland can have no respect for it either. We must assume that its findings will be rejected by the Westminster government and should do as Nicola suggested – that is, use the next General Election as the only available opportunity for the Scottish people to vote on the independence issue.
We do not have control over when this election will be held so we must prepare for it now and campaign outright for a massive SNP victory. When we get that victory we must refuse to take any further part in the Westminster parliament and make arrangements for a Scottish currency and a Scottish Central Bank. We must present our case for independence to international law, and establish our own economic base.
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In response to the tax changes made by this Tory government, the Scottish Government should also adopt a more radical position and bring in a land tax. This would do no damage the Scottish economy and it would enable us to reduce income tax significantly for the medium taxpayer while cutting it off completely for the low earners.
Such a change would increase effective demand in the Scottish economy allowing for economic growth without an increase in borrowing, and with our own currency we could make significant investment in green energy again without borrowing in foreign currency.
Such a programme is just what Scotland needs right now to deal with the cost of living tsunami hitting the Scottish people.
Will there be losers in this economic policy, I hear you say? Well, yes there will be, but the good news is that they will be wealthy landowners, many from outwith Scotland, and many strong financial supporters of the Tories, so I for one will not be too concerned about them.
Andy Anderson
Ardrossan
WILL someone remind Liz Truss of the fallacy of the “once in a generation” claim on the 2014 Scottish independence referendum? By their own actions, the Tories invalidated that claim by promising Scotland that the only way to guarantee remaining in the EU was to vote No in that referendum, which they did. We have now been dragged out of Europe against our will, so we have every right to another referendum.
Alan Anderson
Portlethen
I READ with a degree of sadness the lengthy article from Karen Adam MSP headed “Conduct of supporters will make or break Yes campaign” (Oct 4). You have to read to the second sentence of the second-last paragraph to reach the real message encoded in the article: “Therefore, I am delighted to see the Code of Conduct on the final agenda for the SNP conference.”
I would contend that it will not be the individual supporters of the Yes campaign, many of them not SNP members, who will make or break the Yes campaign; it will be the actions or inactions of the Scottish Government, the SNP, and MPs and MSPs like Ms Adam.
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Given the recent court appearances of an SNP MP, a former SNP MP and the House of Commons suspension of another SNP MP, it seems a little ironic that the conduct of rank-and-file Yes supporters is to be put under the political microscope, tested and judged to see if they meet some random standard. If, God forbid, we manage to lose the next referendum, it will not be due to the actions of a few – possibly angry – individuals but a failure of the leadership of the Yes campaign.
I will not be attending the forthcoming conference in Aberdeen, but would draw the attention of those who can be bothered to the actual wording of Ms Adam’s conference motion. It does not actually include the details of the code of conduct, but says: “Conference therefore supports the adoption of a code of conduct such as that produced by a range of bodies including the Aberdeen independence Movement.”I have no what the Aberdeen Independence Movement’s code of conduct actually says. Are we not to have details of this code of conduct? Who will judge when it is broken? What will the sentence of those who are found guilty as charged?
Ms Adam is entirely wrong when she says in her article “Therefore, I am delighted to see the Code of Conduct on the final agenda for the SNP conference.”
It’s just not there.
Brian Lawson
Paisley
USING the formula two U-turns = one birl, clearly Liz Truss’s head must be constantly birlin’. As an excess of birling causes dizziness, it’s little wonder she’s earned the nickname “Dizzy Lizzy”.
Bill Drew
Kirriemuir
IT would appear that Jim Taylor (Letters, Oct 4) made a slight error in his letter when he quoted the “readers’ charter” from his local paper. He assumed that someone on the editorial staff, or anyone else on the paper for that matter, has ever read it!
James Ahern
East Kilbride
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