I MUST ask: who is Colin Beattie? He seems to imply that he is some sort of constitutional expert in his letter of May 6 by stating that the Queen will declare a state of emergency if we vote for independence amongst his other ramblings. It should be noted, Mr Beattie, that before the referendum even takes place, the Queen will have given her consent for this to happen and as such consent to respect the result.
May I also point out that the Queen, although a constitutional monarch, has no such constitutional power in Scotland. After all, Queen Elizabeth was crowned in a separate ceremony with the Scottish Crown, and as such we are not, and have never been, subjects of the Queen of England. We are citizens of Scotland and the Queen is subject to our will. Mr Beattie will discover that in England people are subjects of the English Crown.
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Colin Beattie, like a number of others, refers to the constitution. Forgive me for stating the obvious but there is no constitution for the UK and never has been. So Mr Beattie, where in your fictional constitution does it state that the Queen has this power?
In an independent Scotland, British generals and the UK will have absolutely no say in any political or military decision made by the Scottish people or parliament. As such, when we decide to get rid of nuclear weapons from our shores, Mr Beattie’s English generals and little Englanders can do the jig of spoiled brats till the cows come home if they want.
And the Queen had absolutely nothing to do with the attempted coup against Harold Wilson, it was a few from the House of Lords and they couldn’t get enough to join them.
Alexander Potts
Kilmarnock
IT’S easy to forget that “no indyref2” was plastered nationwide five years ago. However, this one-trick pony apparently died in the stable before a second time out. The phoney Conservative upsurge of 2017 was put back in its box as the reality of extreme right-wing Tory leadership at Westminster exposed the left-of-centre preference of the Scottish electorate amid a continuing move forward by independence-seeking parties.
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With Labour also picking up a head of steam, it will be interesting to see if they can grasp the thistle, pay heed to the movement toward independence and gel in the creation of independence-seeking administrations free of Tory government for the wealthy at every level before poverty overwhelms.
Tom Gray
Braco
LABOUR failed to make large gains in the rest of the country outside London, losing Hull City Council to the LibDems, and were unable to make huge progress in terms of seats outside the capital.
The English Tories did not do so badly outside London, much to the gloom of D Ross no doubt, who has been hit by a double whammy up here; he backed the Tories, decried Johnson and then reneged!
Starmer performed worse than Corbyn did outside London. Labour are not cruising to power after this showing. The branch office in Holyrood must be worried. They won’t even be lobby fodder for Labour in Westminster. No Labour government in view!
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Professor John Curtice outlined that in fact from the overnight results announced after the polls closed, English Labour’s share of the vote in seats beyond London and number of seats won were lower than in 2018.
Perhaps, Sarwar had better go indy; politician salvation is not coming from down south.
John Edgar
Kilmaurs
WHAT gives me concern right now is that Scotland should take a much more realistic approach to its vast oil and gas wealth and uses it wisely, but frugally, to invest in the future of our country and our people.
We have a vast amount of catching up to do following the depredation we have suffered at the hands of Westminster over the last 200 years, and apart from investing hugely in renewables, we will need wealth to nationalise our major ports and certain sections of our energy industries. I could go on at length, but think I’ve said enough for you to gather where I’m coming from.
Worldwide demand for oil and gas is at its apogee and we should be able to extract enough for our own needs without damaging the world further, and simply kicking our God-given assets into the long grass is nothing more than a vanity project and stupidity on stilts.
Bruce Moglia
via email
ANYONE remember Sue Gray’s report? Shelved until the police completed their investigations. Now the Tories are baying for Starmer’s blood. The election results were being counted and the Tories wanted Keir charged and out.
It’s time Sue Gray’s report was published in full, unredacted as agreed – no more hiding.
Glen Peters
Paisley
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