SO a Yes vote for Scottish independence would also count as a vote to rejoin the European Union, the Constitution Secretary has said (The National, Jan 30).

Angus Robertson has insisted a second ballot on whether or not to rejoin the bloc would not be needed post-independence, as the choice put to Scottish voters would be an independent Scotland within the EU or staying in the UK.

I have missed some SNP conferences over the past few years and perhaps I had popped out of a coffee, or a stiff drink, during those I did attend, but I would be grateful if Angus could point out to us all where this two-pronged policy was recently debated and was agreed.

I voted to remain, but I know some SNP and Yes voters who voted to leave. They may now be faced with a dilemma – should they support an independent Scotland automatically in the EU?

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I miss all the advantages our EU membership gave us including the right to work, study, travel freely and even live in the EU. The damage to the UK and Scottish economies has been massive. There is no £350 million a week for the NHS and tax losses alone amount to somewhere near £40 billion a year. I have lost close touch with friends who moved back to the EU.

However, life moves on. If the Yes/SNP campaigns get back on the rails after next month’s conference and if we somehow manage to achieve a majority Yes vote by whatever means we can all agree on, is it safe to assume that EU membership is almost automatic? Maybe our welcoming EU light, left on by Alyn Smith, has dimmed or been switched off while we have been gone.

I think I would prefer a full impact assessment of the economic consequences of a plunge back in to the EU pool at that point in time. Would we be using the euro or a Scottish currency? Not least of all, what would be the potential impact of an EU border between Scotland and England and between Scotland and Northern Ireland? A week is a long time in politics. An independent Scotland may sadly be some years away. Let us decide just after that point if rejoining the EU is still the best policy.

Brian Lawson
Paisley

WELL thank you Angus Robertson. Your latest statement that a Yes vote for Scottish independence would also count as a vote to automatically rejoin the European Union has just lost us any chance of winning an independence referendum for the foreseeable future.

Not content with mixing up a UK General Election with a de facto referendum to form an electoral nightmare concoction where it will prove to be almost impossible to win 50%-plus votes, the policy of automatic EU membership is to be added to the mix. This unstable three-part poisonous potion will ensure defeat for the Yes side. The majority of the more than a million leave voters in Scotland (38%) who have not changed their opinion since 2016 will now be even less willing to support the SNP’s vision of an independent Scotland in the EU.

I just despair, and wonder if the SNP leadership are really serious about winning a referendum.

John Baird
Largs

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I WAS surprised by Angus Robertson’s emphatic dismissal of a referendum on rejoining the EU, which I had assumed would take place after a successful independence vote.

This forced choice would, on the face of it, be something which could only reduce the Yes vote in an independence referendum as it appears that a reasonable proportion of voters in Scotland are not yet convinced that the EU should be Scotland’s immediate destination.

Perhaps there is some larger political reason behind the emphasis on the EU and nothing else. A tacit agreement that the EU would recognise a newly independent Scotland? Whatever it is, we have to have independence in the bag first.

R Millar
Darvel, East Ayrshire

JUST finished reading Liam Bryce’s Monday article about the situation at Aberdeen Football Club. I wholeheartedly agree with Liam when he says: “Goodwin’s successor might view the squad with an understandable degree of suspicion.” He writes that the “gutlessness with which they went down to a hungrier opponent made it obvious this group of players were no longer on board with their boss.” My view is that this didn’t only apply to the Darvel game, they were simply “gutless”, end of story.

Someone has to pay the price for failure and the obvious one was Jim Goodwin (a football manager I have more than a passing respect for), simply because it costs more to dismiss a full squad of gutless players than a solitary manager.

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I am confident Jim Goodwin will return to football and his methods will secure success. If I was an Aberdeen fan I certainly wouldn’t trust the players. They let down more than the club and the fans, more importantly, they let themselves down.

Any manager worth his salt who takes on the job at Pitroddie needs to set up their own trusted players to deliver results because success WILL return to Aberdeen, but not with this group of players.

Jim Todd
Cumbernauld