AS we start to hear the early pre-emptive excuses for Brexit failure, eg, “we couldn’t get all parts of the UK behind this Brexit nonsense”, “the nasty EU is forcing a bad deal upon us”, “no punishment beatings please”, etc, we should remember that Brexit is not about leaving the EU, it’s about who leads the Tory party, and keeping the Tory party in power.

We need to sell the need for greater Scottish self-determination in a federal and mutually beneficial context. No voters in 2014 did not want to be physically separate from the UK, and both they and the English possibly felt they were leading and supporting the Scottish people in their fight against the separatists.

Leading the people of England to a better and fairer society, is something we owe them as long-standing neighbours. We need to make clear to the people of England just what our aspirations are. We should not just leave them to the Tories, that would be amoral, and something no self-respecting EU peoples would do.

As a starting point, we need a clearly stated housing aim aspiration, focused on what sort of house we feel should be available to buy on say three-times average salary, in rural, urban, and semi-urban settings in Scotland, with a Scottish average salary noted for comparison.

How many affordable houses we need to build to get to this position, and over what period, we should clearly state, and make an estimate for their regions for information. We should undertake a similar exercise for similar rented accommodation.

We should help them understand why the Scottish people would benefit from low inflation by making some use of the Euro rather than wholly relying on the falling Great Brexit Pound. We should also ensure we have a Scottish balance sheet that truly reflects Scotland, warts and all, past present and future, highlighting where we need a greater focus.

We should not have a tourist tax. What we should have are optional bank accounts in different currencies for visitors, with no interest payable, but with no exchange costs.

We should have a tax allowance or zero-rate income tax, for essential expenditure on formal care-plan required homecare. That’s for us, now. For our children, it’s housing we need, and for our grandchildren we need a “rainy day fund”, arranged using 15 per cent of available capital, generating revenue for retention in a fund.

It’s only by showing the Scottish people in May 2017 just how interdependent these issues are that we can generate both a decent turnout to the polls, and a preliminary referendum, on what sort of society we wish to live in, as Europeans.

Stephen Tingle, Glasgow

WHEN Indyref2 takes place, an obstacle will arise. Detractors of independence will point out, with some reason, that our biggest trading partner will be the UK, not the EU. If we seek to remain or to rejoin the EU as a full member, we will not have the freedom to create or retain the kind of relationship with the UK that will persuade No voters to switch.

We will not be free to tailor our trading relationships with third-party countries, if we remain part of the Customs Union. A worst case scenario might be a hard border, and even if this is unlikely, opponents of independence will plant it in the minds of voters.

We will not be free to determine our fisheries policy either, a factor that might send Scottish Brexit voters over to the No camp. For that reason our policy must be to remain full members of the Single Market but outside the Customs Union. This means joining EFTA or the EEA but not the EU. This would be the best option for Scotland.

Andrew Reid Wildman, Loughton, Essex

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INFORM Scotland’s billboard and ad-van campaign regarding the BBC is a sign that Yes supporters do recognise the part played by BBC “Scotland” in our Indyref defeat.

The billboards flushed out a BBC apologist who claimed that audiences still “trust” BBC news – compared to what; The Daily Mail? All I can safely reply on is that Reporting Scotland will regularly give its opinion to accompany political news, while playing down stories it does not like, ie. SNP positive.

Reporting Scotland will also rarely broadcast a Scottish Government story which is not nuanced to imply that the Government is on the defensive.

According to the apologist, Reporting Scotland has an nightly audience of around 500,000 which, if true, should be of concern to Yes supporters. After all, did a Westminster Tory not recently describe the BBC’s role as “binding the nation together”?

If, in the 1930s, radio was considered unsurpassable in the dissemination of propaganda, why are we so relaxed about the awesome power of TV? I would suggest that as long as broadcasting is in the ruthless grip of London’s propaganda-meisters, IndyRef 2 will be up against it.

The answer is of course the devolution of broadcasting, a clear-out at Pacific Quay and an integrity-driven, trustworthy public broadcaster. Of course, the reason why broadcasting should be devolved is the very reason why it won’t be.

Malcolm Cordell, Broughty Ferry

I HAD the distinct pleasure on Friday morning of listening to Alex Salmond on the Today program.

The reporter, Nick somebody, asked why Nicola still bashed on about independence when the polls show that support had fallen!

This Nick then interrupted Alex ten times before he was able to reply.

Persevering, eventually Alex said: “It’s nice to be able to bring some truth to the BBC Nick, there have been 16 polls since 2014 and all of those, bar one, showed an increase in support.”

Nick ignored the answer and as though he hadn’t even heard it, simply asked another question which I didn’t hear, because I was laughing so much!

Well done, Alex.

Christopher Bruce, Taynuilt

I WAS very interested in Kirsteen Paterson’s article (Airdrie Savings Bank to shut its doors ... The National, January 19).

The Airdrie Savings Bank is the last of the “mutual” banks which has no shareholders and operates on a full-reserve basis. This type of bank is the sort that Scotland’s economy needs, not the multi-national fractional-reserve type which caused the financial crash of 2007.

The Scottish Government have been very wise to have assisted the survival of commercial shipbuilding, steel-making and aluminium production in Scotland all of which were almost finished off, but now could be vital to a redeveloped manufacturing sector in our country.

Could they not also give support to others in an effort to save, and develop this form of banking? This could be of vital importance to building a sound and reliable financial basis for a future independent Scotland.

If we have no full-reserve banks in a future independent Scotland we are going to have to create some, because the fractional-reserve system is collapsing everywhere and causing huge problems.

As there are currently people still employed in this system, with experience of how it operates, and people such as the trade union UNITE who want to help this bank to survive, it would be another wise move for the Scottish Government to help such people to find a way of keeping this banking system alive. After all the fractional reserve banking system has had billions from the taxpayers while full-reserve banks have not had a penny.

Andy Anderson, Dunoon

BILATERAL trade agreements are commonplace around the world. Practically every country has them. But very few of them demand open-door migration as a precondition. The EU agreement with Mexico certainly doesn’t! So why does the EU say to the UK that there will be no trade without open-door migration? All we want is trade with no strings attached!

Les Reid, Edinburgh