Sir, What appears to be ignored in the whole referendum debate is the benefits we now enjoy as being part of the UK the NHS, welfare, education, public services, pensions, financial stability, security, etc, and being one of the world’s wealthiest nations. Do not take this for granted or lose it on easily-made promises.
Yes are promising cuts in corporation and oil industry taxes while promising greater spending on everything else, but no clarity on how this will be funded. In reality, the Yes campaign cannot offer any certainty on currency, Europe, defence, the economy, pensions, savings, benefits, services etc, or even the real cost to us to establish all the institutions needed for an independent nation.
We, therefore, are being asked to vote “yes” based on trusting the promises of Alex Salmond and co.
If we look at the SNP’s record, however, amongst other things, Mr Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon were caught lying about Europe, about consultations re sharing the pound and only two of their MPs turned up to vote on the “bedroom tax”.
In contrast, the SNP do not trust the Scottish people with alcohol, they believe Scottish parents need a guardian for all their children up to the age of 18 (despite SNP allowing them to vote in the referendum aged 16), they are making a mess of our NHS, trying to remove the need for corroboration for conviction and have allowed armed police officers on our streets. It could be argued we may achieve “independence” for Scotland but “incarceration” for its people.
We would be foolish in the extreme to abandon forever the benefits and advantages of the UK that we have invested in and helped to create, especially based on the promises of people who cannot be trusted and who don’t trust us.
Peter Flanagan. 1 Aulton Way, Montrose.
Argument boils down to this
Sir, Whatever the esoteric arguments in the broadsheets, on the Scottish street the referendum choice boils down to this: “yes” to a Shangri-La where everything is free, no-one has to work and oil pays the bill, or “no”, this is as good as it gets and if you want a better lifestyle you’ll have to earn it.
It is received wisdom that no-one ever went broke underestimating the public’s gullibility and Alex Salmond has simply done what snake-oil salesmen always do.
As Dr Johnston observed three centuries ago the first career move for Scots of ability and ambition is to leave and David Cameron’s own family was part of that diaspora.
It is beyond parody that he of all people would bet the future of the United Kingdom on a simple majority of the work-shy introverts who stayed home.
Dr John Cameron. 10 Howard Place, St Andrews.
Unique union of nations
Sir, There is a map of Europe being circulated by the pro-separation campaign that shows the United Kingdom surrounded by a host of independent countries in western and eastern Europe. On this map our UK island has the label “union” and all the other surrounding countries have the label “independent”.
As a No supporter I like this map that the Yes campaign has produced. It shows a unique United Kingdom that stands out from the rest. It shows a United Kingdom that for 300 plus years has influenced the world more than any other union of nations.
It shows a United Kingdom that, in spite of its faults, has positively influenced the world with its rule of law, its engineering expertise, its medical breakthroughs, and its history of exploration and discovery.
It shows a United Kingdom that stood against tyranny and defended most of those European “independent” countries when they were on their knees at the hands of despots.
Scots, English, Welsh, and Irish citizens can all take pride in the positive changes they all contributed as a part of this unique union of nations we call the United Kingdom.
Yes . . . I like this map!
Bill Davis. The Coach House, Reres Road, Broughty Ferry.
Mr Salmond’s thirst for power
Sir, Now is the time for voters to take a long, hard look at promises made by Alex Salmond.
Firstly, that of free child care for working mothers, costed at £1.2 billion, to be funded by tax revenue from those mothers returning to work. The Scottish Parliament Information Centre concluded that not enough mothers were seeking work to make this estimate anything like accurate!
Secondly, it is estimated that in 15 years time Scotland will have 400 pensioners per 1,000 of the population. Mr Salmond’s plan is to fund this by tax revenue from new immigrants to Scotland.
This would entail there being half a million more immigrants each of whom would have a job and be tax payers. Alex Bell, a former special adviser to Mr Salmond, described this plan as being “pure hokum”.
Thirdly, he claims that Scotland is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, using gross domestic product as a measure. He wilfully chooses to ignore the fact that a huge proportion of that was earned by foreign companies and their money would leave Scotland. He has not learned from the fate of Ireland who used GDP as a measure of their prosperity hence their economic collapse.
Finally Olli Rehn, a former EU commissioner, has pointed out that Scotland could not possibly be considered for membership of the EU without its own well-funded central bank.
Mr Salmond puts his thirst for power above the well-being of his fellow Scots.
Isabel Fleming. Poppy Cottage, Blebo Craigs.
Registration plate poser
Sir, I was walking along past some parked cars the other day and noticed a “Yes” sticker in the back window of a car with personalised registration number on it. This led me to wonder what would happen to registration plates after independence. Would you lose your personalised one?
Scotland would need their own registration system and their own equivalent of DVLA offices as Swansea would only deal with the UK of which Scotland would no longer be a member.
To my knowledge it has never mentioned what would happen to our number plates post independence, presumably as we would have UK registrations they would all have to be changed to Scottish ones, similar to what happened in the Irish Republic, and our current ones would revert back to DVLA.
Some registrations can cost thousands of pounds so perhaps before voting “Yes” you might want to work out what you should do with your valuable car registration!
Jackson Farnsworth. Kellas.
Feel Scottish and British
Sir, I refer to Mr Young’s letter, Our identities will be diluted (September 5). I am proud to be a North-East Scot and feel a strong sense of belonging to the Mearns, but for me, there is no conflict between being a Scot, a British citizen, and a European.
I am convinced that all the nations within the UK have contributed to and benefited from 300 years of the union and will continue to do so.
Historically, that extraordinary flourishing of intellectual and creative energy known as The Scottish Enlightenment could have taken place only within the context of the settled political, economic and social order established in the 18th century. Scots maintained a proud record of achievement in many fields of endeavour throughout the 19th & 20th centuries.
Our identity owes more to the 300 years of shared history and culture than to some putative and mysterious link to our distant past. We have succeeded in maintaining our distinctive traditions through our religious, educational and legal institutions while, at the same time, looking outward to embrace different ideas and cultures.
D E Johnston. Woodville, Laurencekirk.
Will V&A come?
Sir, If Scotland becomes independent, will the V & A still come to Dundee? National museums do not normally have their exhibition space in another state.
Without the V&A the waterfront redevelopment will be doomed and the future prosperity of Dundee blighted.
Nigel Harris. 5 Woodmuir Crescent, Newport-on-Tay.
If they can do it…
Sir, Happy living in one of the most class-divided countries in the world? Where a rich, privileged minority, mostly privately educated, control not only the government, but hold on to all the top jobs in society? Not to mention the anomaly that is the unelected House of Lords, full to bursting with more than 800 entitled to make political decisions and also claim expenses of upwards of £300 a day!
The gap between rich and poor has never been greater. Bankers’ bonuses back to pre-crisis levels £40.5 billion between May 2013 and April, up 5% in a year. Executive pay grown from 60 times an average worker’s to almost 180 times since the 1990s.
All in it together? Tell that to the zero-hours contract workers, heading to the food banks.
Vote “no”, then, and the future is secure. More of the same. After the next general election (where your vote will influence the outcome not one jot) we can always look forward to the dream team of Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage, likely taking us out of the EU.
But there are small successful countries out there: Norway, which has absolutely no debt; Finland, with the best education service in the world (and virtually no private education); Ireland, growing again after the recession and Denmark, voted the happiest country in the world.
If they can do it, so can Scotland.
Janet Ramsay. Luncarty, Perth.
An unseemly scramble
Sir, The unseemly scramble by the unionist parties to cobble together a “more-devolution” package at the last minute is unseemly and shamelessly cynical.
These are the same people who refused a “devo-max” option on the ballot paper (to their great credit, the SNP agreed to it).
The result has been a vigorous, exciting debate in Scotland politics will never be the same again which has opened the eyes and minds of many thousands who would otherwise have accepted more devolution as sufficient meantime.
“Perfidious Albion” is hoping that we have forgotten the Scottish Covenant Home Rule movement, Sir Alec Douglas Home’s “promise” and the disgraceful “40% rule”, all ignored or binned by Westminster. Not this time, chaps.
David Roche. Hill House, Coupar Angus.
Time to leave ‘family nest’
Sir, The whole world must be amazed at the antics of those who are running the campaign to stop Scotland from becoming an independent nation.
The “quiet revolution” of Scots speaking out for freedom from the old imperialism that pervades Westminster and London rule, will continue until independence has been achieved.
A simple analogy that those who wish to retain the union of the UK use often is that of the family and the intentions of it breaking up if Scotland gains independence. What is never mentioned is the fact that there are very few families that are not broken, either because of sibling rivalry or outside influences, such as marriage etc.
Often the head of the family, who claims to know best will try to quell the problem with punishment or bribery. This is exactly what is happening now to Scots, by those in their power-base in the south east of England. It is time for Scots to leave the nest.
Bob Harper. 63a Pittenweem Road, Anstruther.
Face future with confidence
Sir, Over the past few weeks it has been disheartening to find this paper flooded with correspondence from anxious readers fearful of the crises which might befall an independent Scotland.
Cries of: “How will X be paid for?”, “Where will we find the money for Y?” or “What if we are kicked out of Z?” are not dry matters of technocratic detail or procedure, they are questions of faith. Simply put, many Scots don’t think we can do it.
How did this happen? How did the birthplace of so many of world history’s great inventors, explorers, entrepreneurs, writers, philosophers and poets come to be so lacking in self-belief?
We are the best-educated country in all of Europe. We have more world-class universities per head of population than any other country in the world. We have a higher GDP per head than the UK, France, Japan and Italy.
We have over 90% of the UK’s hydro energy capacity, 64% of the EU’s oil reserves, 25% of its offshore wind energy potential, 25% of its tidal power potential and 10% of its wave power potential.
We export nearly £10 billion of top-quality products around the globe every year and we have manufacturing and tourism industries worth £39 billion and £12 billion respectively. We have more reason than most to face the future with confidence.
David Kelly. 17 Highfields, Dunblane.