FEW can be surprised by Nicola Sturgeon’s cynical decision to ignore the commitment in the Edinburgh Agreement, which she herself signed, to respect the outcome of the 2014 independence referendum. But her proposed timing for her second referendum takes her cynicism to a new level (“Sturgeon throws down independence gauntlet”, The Herald March 14). Logically, if we must have a second referendum, it should be at least a year after the UK leaves the EU. By then things will have settled down and the devolution, to Holyrood, of powers returned from Brussels will have been agreed. So we will then know what we are being asked to vote to leave.
But if the SNP cannot wait that long, Westminster should offer only the alternative of a speedy vote, say no later than this autumn. To allow the damaging and divisive independence debate to run for one and a half to two years in parallel with the difficult Brexit negotiations can do nothing but harm. But maybe that’s the SNP’s idea. By undermining the UK’s already weak negotiating position, they may hope that it will frighten voters into the independence camp.
However, if Scottish voters again reject the SNP’s dream of an independent tartan nirvana, our future will remain with the UK – a future which the SNP’s proposed referendum timing puts at even greater risk. And even if we take the path to independence, the EU is hardly going to offer Scotland tempting terms for membership if the SNP has deliberately disrupted the Brexit negotiations.
Alistair Easton,
6 Glencairn Crescent, Edinburgh.

THE SNP constantly asserts, usually as part of their latest in an ever lengthening list of grievances, that the “democratic will” of the people of Scotland must prevail. But it seems that Ms Sturgeon is to be the only arbiter of what “democratic will” actually means. The democratic will of Scotland – I deliberately do not say of Scots – was expressed very clearly in 2014. But here we are again. Despite what 55 per cent told her then.
Following Brexit Nicola Sturgeon continuously asserts that Scotland is being dragged out of the EU by the Tories against her will. She quite deliberately but quite wrongly (a) conflates a UK Remain vote as a Scotland Yes vote and (b) stokes up anti-Tory/UK grievance by deliberately ignoring that Mrs May’s Government is only putting the “democratic will” of the people of the whole of UK into effect.
Ms Sturgeon expresses concerns about the rights of those EU citizens to stay in the UK post Brexit and expresses grave concern about the two million or so Brits in the EU too. If one is actually to believe Ms Sturgeon then this referendum will not simply be a re-run of 2014. The question on the ballot paper should then not be a re-run.
I propose that it reflects the EU ballot paper: Should Scotland remain part of the UK or leave the UK? Voters can select either Remain or Leave.
And what about the 750,000 or so Scots who live in England, Wales and Northern Ireland? Are they again to be denied their democratic voice?
Alasdair Sampson,
The Pines, 7a Loudon Street, Stewarton.
IT is notable that at this time last year during the lead-up to the European referendum, neither politicians from the former Prime Minister down nor for that matter political commentators gave us any warning of the complexities that would be encountered in implementing Brexit in the event of the UK deciding to come out. The fact that the matter was never mentioned makes me think they had absolutely no anticipation of the serious difficulties that we are now going through.
Now that Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed her intention to hold a second Scottish independence referendum we should learn from these Brexit problems and realise that implementing Scottish independence would be at least as problematic frustrating and drawn out as implementing Brexit. After all we have only been in Europe for 50 years. Our Union with England goes back 300.
David W Deas,
3 Craig Gardens, Newton Mearns.

THE First Minister’s latest pronouncement merely serves to reinforce the sad and now serious decline in scientific literacy throughout the population and especially in politics and the media.
When the previous First Minister declared that the 2014 referendum was a “once in a generation” decision, it didn’t occur to anyone to establish whether he meant a human generation of approximately 25 years or a fruit fly generation of about 10 days. Just in case you wonder, four years is approximately the generation length for cattle, very apt considering the amount of male bovine solid excrement that will be delivered over the next two years.
Ella Smith,
Greenhill Avenue, Giffnock.

THERE is one change since 2014 that will matter a great deal to Scotland: the presidency of Donald Trump. When the SNP published its White Paper that year, it reiterated it would pursue getting rid of Trident from Scottish waters. But it also said it would allow Nato vessels to visit on a “don’t ask, don’t tell” basis on whether they had nuclear weapons aboard, and Alex Salmond even offered the Unites States a couple of bases on Scottish soil if they wished it. It may now seem a bit reckless to many voters to continue this policy with Donald Trump in charge of the button.
We all know the President has a friendly attitude to Vladimir Putin. We also know how he treats any opposition to his business interests in Scotland. Mr Salmond can confirm that from his personal experience.
I look forward to learning what the SNP has to say on how a Scotland that had extracted itself from the UK and was waiting in the queue for EU membership would cope with this particular President and his proven unfitness for the job.
Maria Fyfe,
10 Ascot Avenue, Glasgow.

IT really is independence or bust for Scotland now. Never, not even during the darkest days of Margaret Thatcher’s scorched earth attitude to traditional industries, has Scotland or the UK faced a government which exudes such wilful disregard for the UK’s best interests.
It is driven by a coterie of hard-line Little Englanders (including the Scot, Liam Fox) who put self-interest ahead of all other considerations and who have benefited from the elevation of Theresa May to a post for which she is patently unfit.
She has shown a complete ignorance of the divided nature of the UK in the wake of the Brexit vote by caving in completely to the Brexiter zealots and allowing them to dictate the UK attitude to leaving the EU. They and their allies in the right-wing media have totally disenfranchised the 48 per cent of voters who wished to remain within the EU by pushing relentlessly and recklessly for a hard Brexit, parroting at every turn that ‘’it is the will of the people’’.
The ‘’will of the people’’ suggests a coming together of various factions and views to a common end supported by the vast majority of the population. This is not what they are being offered by this Brexit. A Prime Minister with a modicum of empathy would have realised that this was not what many of the electorate expected or voted for and tempered the desires of the extremists with a large measure of common sense. Mrs May has failed to serve the interests of a huge swath of the country and instead appears to being led by the nose by the worst elements of her party.
This leaves Scotland with a choice: remain in the UK and be led into an uncertain future by a group of politicians who in Scotland would not be elected to run a whelk stall never mind a country, or choose an uncertain future lead by a group of politicians voted into power by only the Scottish people. Time to choose.
James Mills,
29 Armour Square, Johnstone.

THE fury and venom emanating from Unionist politicians, in particular from David Mundell. is predictable but misplaced. After Theresa May’s contempt for Holyrood displayed at the Tory conference recently and her threat to withhold powers repatriated from Brussels, did the Brexiters really think that was the end of the matter?
The Secretary of State for Scotland is the sole Tory MP, one of only three Unionists from north of the Tweed. No mandate at all.
They deny the democratic will of Scots who voted to remain in the EU. Brexit brought about by the xenophobic south of the Tweed has changed the circumstances since 2014.
Can they not see that? The Unionist party conferences as well in Scotland are mind-numbing. The speakers from down south snarl, talk down to Scots and do not even propose alternative policies other than the generic holding the line against Holyrood.
Now Westminster has two diverging constitutional issues. Mrs May’s hubris and overbearing haughtiness have forced the First Minister to act on behalf of Holyrood and the Scottish people. Nicola Sturgeon’s well-timed intervention has strategically and tactically weakened Mrs May, the unelected Prime Minister.
John Edgar,
19 Gilmours Avenue, Blackford, Auchterarder.

THERESA May tells us that “Politics is not a game”. Really. So just what were Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and David Cameron doing last year?
Andrew J Beck,
5.02 Condominium, 7 Uthant, Jalan U-Thant, 55000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

HOW ironic that on the day after Nicola Sturgeon opts for a second independence referendum that the Muirfield Golf Club announces its decision to allow lady members full membership. How undemocratic is that in asking the same question until you get the right answer?
Ian Sloan,
80 Inch Wood Avenue, Bathgate.