I HAVE to ask, what is the point of wanting to prop up a (potential) Labour government in Westminster, or any government for that matter, if we want independence?

Let us be honest with ourselves for a moment – they are Unionist parties and we are not. To put it simply, they are not going to give us any chance of holding a referendum if they can help it, as they know what is liable to happen next time around. Likewise the Liberal Democrats – who would most likely be in coalition with Labour if the next Westminster election results in either a minority or hung parliament, which according to the experts is the most likely scenario – are unlikely to support our demands.

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The next government could last a full five-year term, and we still have a year to go before an election is called. In other words, any Westminster government could keep us tied to them for the next six years. That will mean that the earliest we could expect to hold a referendum will be in 2029, a full 15 years since we last held one!

Originally we were told that there would definitely be a referendum this year in October. However, for the last six months nothing has happened to push that along. Okay, the (English) Supreme Court have put a block on Holyrood doing so without Westminster say-so. That doesn’t mean we should accept the situation, instead we should be holding meetings up and down the country, and discussing the issues at grassroots levels to hear what everybody wants and thinks.

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We also have to ask, where are our human rights in this if Westminster is refusing to grant us permission to hold a referendum? We are meant to be in an equal partnership with England through an international treaty. However, we are being treated like some backwater region. As such we should be pushing for our rights to be upheld and if the Supreme Court in London can’t – or more to the point, won’t – help, then we should be taking a petition to the European Court of Human Rights before the next election comes along.

Let’s stop talking about de facto referendums and propping up lame-duck Westminster administrations, and do something positive. The positive of winning a case in the European Court of Human Rights is that every signatory country – including England – will have to accept our right to hold a referendum on our terms.

Just because we are part of the United Kingdom, that doesn’t mean we have to support the English political system. We have to beat it to win!

Alexander Potts
Kilmarnock

I CAN’T but wholeheartedly agree with Councillor Kenny MacLaren’s letter of Thursday. When are the SNP and the other independence-advocating parties and politicians going to acknowledge that independence is the ONLY issue they should be focussing their attentions on?

And, to this end, when are they going to stop touching their collective forelocks to a Westminster system that will NEVER give permission for a referendum; that is busy dismantling the last vestiges of democracy still held by a Scottish legislature and is a system that will move heaven and earth to maintain its grip on the golden goose that is Scotland!

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Evidence of the tricks the Westminster establishment is happy to employ were clearly on show on May 6, when the Met Police, a well-documented untrustworthy and discredited tool of government, was tasked with rounding up any coronation dissenters who might spoil the establishment junket, in order to lock them up until the party was over!

It’s time all the independence parties set aside their petty squabbles, started talking to each other, and agreed that the next Westminster General Election be fought on the issue of independence, and nothing else, and that as soon as there is a majority vote in Scotland for independence-supporting politicians of whatever stripe, there be a walkout from the Westminster parliament followed by a unilateral declaration of independence!

I don’t think the Westminster lawyers would find ways to prevent a democratically achieved ambition such as this, and I’m sure both the EU and the UN would be supportive. Come on, SNP, Greens and Alba, get a grip!

Ned Larkin
Inverness

KNOWLEDGE is power is an old adage, but nonetheless true. As an SNP foot soldier of more than 50 years, my main source of disappointment with the leadership is their apparent inability to spread accurate information, mainly relating to how Scotland has been ripped off by successive Westminster administrations, and the obvious benefits of running our own country, ie becoming a NORMAL country.

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I have learned more about how we’ve arrived at this point in history by reading The National than I’ve ever done by attending branch meetings or conferences. If enough voters had the facts explained to them regarding the Westminster lot just ignoring or sabotaging whatever doesn’t suit them, I’m fairly hopeful enough punters would come around.

Forget Section 30! We don’t need it. All we need is enough indy votes.

Can you imagine the Belgians being told by the French government that they can’t do something because “now is not the time”?

Barry Stewart
Blantyre

WHAT kind of granda has his grandkids bow and curtsey to him? I was appalled watching this display of atonement to a guy of limited worth.

Also our new Queen who couldn’t hide her smirk posing as a smile. This was the middle finger to Diana and everyone who thought she could never be queen. Maybe Prince Harry was right all along, he saw her for what she was. She can never hide her past and Charlie can never hide his.

Patrick O’Neill
via email