GINA Miller’s tenacity and her courage to face up to the British press and the misogynistic trolls should be lauded (The woman who defeated government... why isn’t she a national hero?, The National, January 25). She has made Theresa May and her Brexiteer cohorts recognise that Britain is still a democracy and that Parliament matters.

We could fund an appeal to the Supreme Court or to the European Supreme Court to wake up our indolent naysayers to the fact that Scotland doesn’t get a look-in despite our representation in Westminster and the 62 per cent who recognise themselves as outward-looking Europeans.

Catriona Whitton
Dunblane

I AGREE wholeheartedly with Martin Hannan that Gina Miller is a heroine. That she was subject to violent, misogynistic trolling by a portion of Brexiteers is sadly not surprising. It is them who should be condemned and Miller praised for reminding a highly arrogant government that “Parliament alone is sovereign” and only Parliament can grant rights to the British people and only Parliament can take them away.”

Carol Price
Aberdeen

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AN INDEPENDENT SCOTLAND IN THE EU OFFERS REASONS TO BE OPTIMISTIC 

IN the article Sturgeon dismisses ‘bogus’ UK trade claims (The National, January 26), Alistair Carmichael is somewhat gloomy.

He opines that if we are pulled out of the EU customs union it will be bad for Scottish trade. That’s true of course, so why doesn’t he support the SNP in fighting Scotland leaving it? After all, the SNP clearly states that they would then have no reason to call indyref2. His visceral distaste for the SNP has badly clouded his judgement previously – the Frenchgate debacle nearly ended him politically – and this is perhaps another example of opposition through habit rather than reason or logic.

Mr Carmichael then somewhat sensationally states that a border between Scotland and England would result in “a catastrophic loss of trade”. This is just the latest strand of Project Fear. If a trade treaty is not worked out with the EU over the course of the next two years then the UK will be bust, so let’s assume that there will be a deal. No matter what gloss is put on it by the media, the deal will be better for the EU than it will be for the UK. If Scotland is independent and in the EU or the European Free Trade Association, then that deal will apply to us and we will have full and advantageous trading rights with our southern neighbours. This simply represents an enormous opportunity for us, something to be optimistic about rather than pessimistic like Alistair Carmichael.

Unionists tend to claim we won’t get into the EU or EFTA, but does this opinion really stand up to scrutiny? If indyref2 results in a Yes vote, then our application will be submitted from a sovereign independent country which has citizens with nearly half a century of individual and collective membership of the EU as it grew and developed out of the Common Market.

In fact, most Scots have been European citizens for all of their lives. We’ve got pedigree and, while the EU isn’t perfect by any means, we generally prefer to be in it rather than out, and you must be in it to influence or change it.

As a sovereign nation rather than a mere wannabe, our situation would then be substantially different from that of Catalonia and so, hopefully, any Spanish reservations can be overcome. Would the EU as a whole want us? I firmly believe they would. We have a developed small country that strongly wants to be in the EU.

Our strategic position is really important to the EU both militarily and economically. We would have the only land border with England and Wales from the EU. We have enviable energy resources in terms of wind, tide and oil and the first two are infinite and as green as it gets.

The third one, oil, is indeed so enviable that our UK Government hid its value from Scots for decades to hinder the rise of nationalist aspiration. Additionally, the EU did not want the UK to press the exit button so it stands to reason they would be happy if Scotland at least returned to the fold. The only faction in Europe to rejoice at Brexit was the far-right and the readmission of Scotland would not suit their agenda one little bit. It is arguable that Scotland returning would have a stabilising effect on the EU itself.

Gloomy and pessimistic like Alistair Carmichael or progressive, optimistic and outward looking like Nicola Surgeon – take your choice, Scotland and I hope you make the right one this time around. We won’t get many better chances than we have now to make our country into the nation we aspire to be.

David Crines
Hamilton

IN seemingly rather desperate efforts to sustain Scotland’s unequal partnership (now confirmed by the UK Supreme Court), much has already been made of the relative proportion of rUK/EU Scottish exports of approximately 4:1, as indicated in recently released 2015 figures. Aided and abetted by the BBC and much of the mainstream media, serious analyses of these figures have been sadly lacking along with little or no references to imports for a broader economic understanding.

While Brexit supporters’ claims that ‘they (the EU) need us (the UK) more than we need them’ go unquestioned, mainstream commentators are lining up to portray Scotland as utterly dependent on the rest of the UK economically in spite of our extensive natural resources, of which most small countries around the world are undoubtedly envious.

Setting aside the fact that an unknown proportion of Scotland’s exports to rUK are in turn exported as components of other goods to destinations in the EU and beyond, if the tables that accompany the published figures are examined, it can be seen that when manufactured goods are compared, the approximate ratio is not 4:1 but only 1.5:1 and fast diminishing – in 2014 it was 1.7:1.

This leads on to the most important fact in any such comparisons aimed at indicating Scotland’s possible economic performance and potential growth in the future as an independent country, trading inside the world’s largest single market – namely that this market dwarfs the UK market by a ratio of approximately 8:1.

Stan Grodynski
Longniddry, East Lothian

GIVEN BBC Reporting Scotland’s lead story on export figures on Wednesday, there can be no further doubt at all that the No campaign has been dusted off and that Project Fear II is on top of us, desperate to intimidate us all. We can afford to waste no time in getting Project Hope, Decency and Self-respect up to speed, indyref 2 date set or not.

Ian Duff
Inverness