THE headline accusation of the letter by Mr J Sillars (March 22) is that the current SNP leadership are stupid in not supporting Brexit, as he clearly does.

Repeating the non-factual Tory/Ukip assertion that the Scottish dividend component of the £350 million per week or so the UK sends to Brussels can pay for all existing EU direct investment in Scotland, with change to spare for housing, was however quite unexpected, non-factual, misleading, and fit only for the side of a big red bus.

Mr Sillars is quite correct, however, to highlight the unelected elite global forces currently trying to shift towards a largely unmanaged free-market economy without protectionism. The EU, despite its reputation for promoting austerity within the EU group, is one of the few global players maintaining protectionism of its member nations, in a global economy of often poor standards for people and animals.

As for the developing world being held back by EU protectionism, some export products are indeed limited, but the real prize usually sought by the unelected elite is no barriers to selling these countries arms, agrochemicals, sterile GM seeds etc. A sustainable underpinning of power supply, water supply and food self-sufficiency would appear to be far more beneficial to the people of the developing world than the reduction of all EU tariffs.

In respect of the Greek example used to highlight just how bad the EU is, it must be noted that the Greek people tolerantly decided to both stay in the EU and the Eurozone. Even the people of the UK are tolerant of the £4 trillion (off and on the books) national debt the UK has run up. Just how tolerant the people of Scotland will be to the Tory/Ukip Brexit chaos in indyref2 remains to be seen.

Whilst clearly the EU is not benign, it’s a trading bloc where trade is placed on as level a playing field as practicable, and broadly acceptable to all national governments, which in Scotland’s case is the UK Government. On the positive side, the EU has gone for increased standards to gain consensus, rather than take the preferred UK approach of racing to the opportune bottom.

The point about reversing indyref2 is a genuine fear to many, especially if a Scottish Government does badly and an rUK government looks too good (worst nightmare). Perhaps this is why the No campaign has been relentlessly been denigrating anything and everything the SNP has touched.

Interesting though all the points made by Mr J Sillars are, they are no substitute for discussions on how to regenerate a sense of reliance on politicians, sitting in a fully powered Scottish Parliament, tasked with serving the sovereign will of the people of Scotland.

Stephen Tingle
Greater Glasgow

ONCE again Jim Sillars rehearses his antipathy to the EU in accordance with the failed political dynamics of the 20th century. Times have moved on, international cooperation is the new way; doesn’t it seem he hasn’t noticed?

Any shift of powers to the centre yields equality across the single market for all in it, which is what makes it work. And doesn’t it seem that opposition to progress is largely Anglo driven, based on some spurious historical notion of superiority which is at best illusory, at worst probably something we should be apologising for?

Mr Sillars fails to understand that our £800 million net contribution to the EU seems like a bargain for tariff-free trade with the single market, which our dynamic enterprise would increase over time, and who doubts that leaving will result in significant price increases ordinary folk can ill afford? Can Mr Sillars guarantee that wages will rise to compensate, and this will not bring damaging inflation, economic chaos, consequent job losses and recession to hit ordinary folk?

EU membership should now have little bearing on voting for independence. The EU is no longer the issue; rather it is the shambles of Westminster which lied to us, ignores us and intends to use draconian ancient powers to grab repatriating powers that according to the terms of the Scotland Act should be returned to devolved Scotland. Don’t Scots now realise we are not a real partner in this UK, but a subjugated people despicably lied to by Unionists at the last independence referendum?

No-one holds office in the EU without being democratically elected or willingly appointed by those who are. Perhaps Mr Sillars would prefer them to be directly elected, but wouldn’t he be the first to protest about more powers being taken out of the hands of our own politicians?

Perhaps Mr Sillars doesn’t realise all our political and economic options are currently rooted in capitalism. He may wish this to change, but his dogma of economic fragmentation by individual nations is not the way to achieve this. I believe any move away from capitalism will only occur when the overwhelming majority of nations desire it – not piecemeal nation by nation, as history has already proven a failure.

The EU’s tariff regime is the very benefit of membership. It brings the equality, stability and cooperation in the single market that our children can thrive in, for all our benefit.

Where I do agree with Mr Sillars is about another independence referendum being unpredictable and unsuitable for complex issues.

Let’s hold a Scottish election, with each candidate declaring at the outset for or against independence. We return a majority for independence then Scotland takes independence beginning with repeal of the Act of Union 1707. End of. How strange to be agreeing with Mr Sillars about something.

Jim Taylor
Edinburgh

IN reply to Mr Sillars’s criticism of my letter I will say that as a former SNP European Parliamentary candidate I an fully aware of how the Regional Funding mechanism works in relation to Less Favoured areas. If, however, he had taken the trouble to read the section properly, he would know my contention is that the UK Government will not introduce any such help. Nor will it play fair with any redistribution of monies post-Brexit. Time and again we hear how Scotland gets more than its fair share, how we should be satisfied, how we are a bunch of grievance-stirring scroungers.

However flawed the EU may be, as an independent nation state we will be able to negotiate fairly as a respected equal – not beg for scraps in the hope that we still have a functioning parliament in place to distribute it, after Westminster has stripped it of environmental and structural powers.

Kris Murray Browne
via email