I DON’T know where Boris Johnson gets the idea that independence is not going to happen. The only way it won’t happen is if he tries to stop any referendum taking place. That would prove just how two-faced

he is since he stood in Poland

last week and stated that every country has the right to decide

how they are governed and

should not be bullied by a bigger neighbour.

He was referring to Ukraine and its problems with Russia, but is seems that this right doesn’t apply to Scotland since he is the leader of the bigger neighbour next door who is bullying us.

As for him stating that we needed the might of the UK Treasury to survive Covid, that’s an outright lie. The only reason we needed the UK Treasury is because, under

the Scotland Act that gave us devolution, Scotland is not allowed to borrow more than £1.75 billion per annum, with a total cap on all borrowing of £3 billion.

If we were independent we could have done exactly the same as Westminster, which was to borrow from the Bank of England. Only we would have borrowed from the National Bank of Scotland and not the Bank of England. Every other small independent country did exactly the same so why not Scotland.

Following prompting by the SNP at that time, the House of Commons library sent a letter to Alex Salmond on August 21, 1998 (ref 98/8/56EP/rjt), in which they showed that

based on Scotland’s GDP per capita, an independent Scotland would occupy 7th place in the world’s wealth league. The UK occupies

17th place.

This information was taken from a blog by John Jappy, a former civil servant who was involved in UK budget preparation.

You can see his full blog at scotlandowntwofeet.blogspot.com

We certainly do not need support from the heavily indebted, (to the tune of £2 trillion), UK Treasury.

We could manage so much better on our own.

Charlie Kerr

Glenrothes

IVOR Telfer’s letter “Not just the rich, but the ‘comfortable’ must contribute more” (Feb 14) started with some harrowing examples of desperate struggles being encountered amidst the cost of living rises. Mr Telfer suggests we will have more progressive policies once independent in an effort to reduce the inequality gap.

I agree with this suggestion. However, we must recognise what is being done right now by a very progressive SNP government.

Since the SNP came to power

in 2007 we have seen massive

moves towards closing inequality in so many aspects of our health and wellbeing. With the abolition

of prescription charges (£9.35/item in England) doing away with the need to choose which prescribed item is most needed. Introduction

of baby boxes, giving each child

born in Scotland an equal start. Extension of free personal care regardless of age, increases to

carers allowance, bringing it in

line with basic job seekers

allowance. Mitigating measures

put in place regarding the bedroom tax.

These are just a few examples where the Scottish Government are tackling inequality. But the

real game changer affecting more than 100,000 children is the introduction of the Child Payment

in 2021, £10/wk, initially to

every child under six years old, rolled out in 2022 to include all under-16s.

It will be reaching approximately

half a million and in a matter of weeks, this payment will increase to £20/wk.

The Scottish Government has introduced seven new benefits since the establishment of Social Security Scotland, include the new Adult Disability Payment.

Like Ivor Telfer, I want to see

a more socially just society, a

society that reaches out and

asks “what can we do to assist you” rather than creating hoops to jump through and endless assessments.

Thankfully, the establishment of Social Security Scotland is challenging and delivering a whole new approach to what is a human right: social security.

Catriona C Clark

Falkirk

JUST watched a political broadcast for the English Labour

party, masquerading as a political broadcast for

the Scottish Labour

Party. When will they ever learn?

When will they begin to listen to their Scottish membership? Will they ever return to the post-war years? The timing is right, but I doubt if it will ever happen!

The great Clydesiders must be turning in their graves. Scottish Labour

clearly does not exist. We

don’t need the Proclaimers to remind us that “Scottish Labour is No More”.

Robin MacLean

Fort Augustus

THE piece on Monday on the Glencoe atrocity was excellent. If your readers wish to learn the aftermath, that was, if anything worse, they should read Glencoe by John Prebble.

Scotland the then sovereign nation was systematically subjected to 50-plus years of wanton revenge – inspired cruelty at the hands of a London government authorised by the Crown.

Neither acknowledgement nor apology has been made to Scotland.

John Hamilton

Bearsden

JUST a thought! Why not use the tainted cash on offer to invest in creating a modern passenger ferry route between Fife and Belgium/The Netherlands?

That way it could be put to the good by using it to prepare for our post-UK future!

Catriona Grigg

Embo