SNP should dust the cobwebs off the electoral route to independence

It is not clear whether the proposed Holyrood legislation to arrange a referendum would pass judicial examination by the Supreme Court, and Gove’s statement on the Andrew Marr Show earlier this year that London would not refer it to the court was later dropped. So the Scottish Government’s power to arrange indyref2 is uncertain, despite their absolute majority at Holyrood. We must hope they bring it off, but what if they don't?

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If they fail to do so, it will be either because they have not tried (thus revealing themselves to be useless), or because their attempt has been frustrated by law (thus showing a referendum without London’s permission to be a figment). So far, they have taken no material steps, in spite of the fact that even in the simplest form they would need a minimum of about a year just to set a referendum up.

The next UK General Election must be no later than May 2024. UK law is being changed to abolish fixed terms, and the Tory chairman has told staff it should be May or June 2023.

What if we go into the UK General Election with no indyref arranged? The platform of the SNP will be irretrievably tainted, either by their own impotence, or by the futility of the only route to independence which they had proposed. It would be obscene for Scotland to be trapped in such an impasse, and by the very party whose sole reason for existence is to bring about the independence of our country.

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The only way out of it would be to use that election itself as the independence plebiscite. Until the SNP lost their head to a mad obsession with referenda, it had always been their policy to go for independence via an ordinary election, and for all it matters, that notion had always been – and still is – approved by London. All you need is an appropriate manifesto, on which you win a majority of Scottish MPs with a majority of actual votes, and Scotland can go. It’s perfectly peaceful, democratic, legal and constitutional, and it’s outwith London’s control.

Unless that is the proposal, the party will be enticing Scotland into an inner circle of imbecility – “We have proven our own inability and revealed the worthlessness of our great plan. Vote SNP!”

Read the runes, First Minister and whoever she listens to. For Scotland, and for your own self-respect, get started now. Honour the party ethos, and dust the cobwebs off the venerable electoral route, so that if you can’t give us your precious referendum, you can still look us in the face at the coming Westminster poll.

Daniel Campbell
Motherwell

I READ the article from the Scottish Banking & Finance Group on Monday and it sparked some thoughts (What we tax will shape our future as an indy nation, Oct 25).

I’m with the Royal Bank of Scotland (now firmly based in London and renamed NatWest) and have been for a good number of years. They have been no better and probably no worse than many other high street banks. They pay no interest on current accounts and almost nothing on any savings. If you use a credit card and do not pay it off in full every month the charges are eye-watering. If you take a loan the charges are extortionate. If you spend money overseas the charges are far more than the cost, to them, of the transaction.

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This is the same bank that, some years ago, ripped off many small businesses with their business loans. They would give profitable businesses a loan on reasonable terms then, if and when the firm became stretched or hit a rough patch, asked for credit extension they refused, foreclosed, drove the firm to the wall and sold off their assets to benefit the bank.

Last week I got a letter from them which appeared to me to be a list of thinly veiled threats. They are changing my credit card from Visa to Mastercard and there was a number of other changes which mostly seemed to be rule changes so that they can freeze or close your accounts on the least pretence.

Years ago, your bank savings were needed to balance their books; they couldn’t lend what they didn’t have. In what was known as the “big bang”, all this financial responsibility for the banks was swept away. Now if somebody wants a loan they may be given it; the value of the loan is added to the lender’s balance sheet and by this act the funds to provide the loan are created out of thin air.

Banks no longer need or want your savings. What they want are customers who borrow and make them profits. Will we now see moves to exclude prudent customers who do not borrow with some excuse to throw them out? It might be best not to argue with someone in the bank or on the telephone, regardless of how aggrieved you may be.

Roll on an independent Scotland with a Real Scottish National Bank overseen by Holyrood and run as a not for-profit service.

DS Blackwood
Helensburgh

NO seat, no seat! No input, no input! Scotland’s voice silenced! The outrageous scenario Scotland finds itself in as COP26 descends on Scotland’s largest city. While world leaders, delegates, media, the world’s press arrive in Glasgow, Scotland is nowhere to be seen at the negotiations! This outrageous scenario could have been avoided, not by giving special concessions for the host nation, but by giving Scotland’s parliament the rightful place it deserved as host nation. Yet another glaring example of why Scotland needs independence to regain her identity and voice on such major global issues as climate change.

Catriona C Clark
Falkirk