HUMZA Yousaf has assured us that his first political commitment as SNP leader is Scottish independence and he expects this to be achieved within five years. So, what exactly is his proposed strategy to achieve this?

He told us that as soon as he became First Minister of Scotland he would write formally to the UK Prime Minister seeking a new Section 30 order to allow Scotland to have a referendum on independence.

Well, we all know what the formal answer will be to that. The UK Government, boosted by the English Supreme Court pronouncement on “sovereignty”, will answer in the negative, without a hint of subtlety or ambiguity to make clear that it will not do this at present.

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The important question therefore is, how will Humza respond to the UK’s refusal?

If he has no prepared response, then this will be an acknowledgement that he has no idea how to challenge the UK position.

If he repeats the mantra which Nicola Sturgeon often used that we will use a “legal” way to challenge the UK Government, then they will just refer him to the judgment of the English Supreme Court which Nicola applied for, which will leave him stuck in a bog.

Of course, in any real legal judgment the archaic feudal-based assertion of “Scottish sovereignty” applied by the English Supreme Court would not stand scrutiny in an international court, but that is not where Nicola chose to take it. In any event we can’t proceed to an international court when we have not first done the groundwork here in Scotland.

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Humza therefore needs to be ready with an answer when he gets the refusal from Westminster.

What he could and should do is to respond immediately saying this refusal by the Westminster government to acknowledge Scottish democracy will not be tolerated by the Scottish Government and that they will take immediate steps to prepared for independence by other means.

Having made that clear to the UK Government, he should follow it up by a series of actions all designed to get Scotland ready for independence, for example:

(a) Set up an independent data collecting unit to collect Scottish economic data (and abandon GERS).

(b) Start preparations for a Scottish Central Bank and related infrastructure.

(c) Set up a study on a Scottish land tax for early implementation.

(d) Establish a wide Scottish Convention involving the whole of Scottish society to build the basis for a Scottish constitution and Scottish institutions.

If Humza was able to respond to what we know will be a negative message on independence with a positive and practical response which the Scottish people could see as moving us in the right direction, the people will respond and this will lift the morale of the Yes movement and the people in general.

Work on how can ensure that we develop this positivity into a Scottish vote for independence which we can defend in an international court would be stage two of the campaign.

Andy Anderson
Ardrossan

THE events of the past few weeks have prompted much navel-gazing among independence supporters. Conflating leadership of the SNP as a member-led party of independence with the role of First Minister in a devolved administration representing the entire electorate was always a disaster waiting to happen.

Having been a member of the SNP since the 1960s, I have seen it mutate from a vibrant and open platform for Scottish independence to a political party machine to enfranchise professional politicians. We certainly fell headlong into the devolution trap.

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We are, however, where we are and those of us seeking independence must not be tempted into creating or supporting some alternative party – rather, remove the fifth column within.

As matters stand, the party needs to remove devolution politicians from power over conference and elect a chief executive and a treasurer from among the membership, both of whom are barred from standing for a devolved parliament. There is no reason why these should not be full-time paid positions.

Their job is first to sound out conference as to party policy on securing item one of the party’s constitution – independence – and second to ensure that the candidates selected for election as SNP MSPs and MPs are fully aware that should they be elected they are expected to endorse the policies of conference on all matters of principle.

A period in opposition, even perhaps to a minority coalition administration, might provide a more natural platform to enhance independence in the eyes of all Scottish citizens – provided the strategy was well thought through and clear. We can, however, only think about such matters once the SNP is reconstituted, perhaps at the special conference mooted some time ago.

RF Morrison
Helensburgh