JOHN Swinney is quite correct to say that, despite the rhetoric of the Unionist parties, Scotland’s interests do not feature at Westminster. Scotland’s role on the UK political stage has been diminished for some time. Bread-and-butter issues (health, education and transport) are dealt with at Holyrood and so are never discussed at Westminster.
Scotland features at Westminster only for the two major Unionist parties to slap down any proposal for independence or for a referendum, or any deviation from any UK/Westminster policy. The parties will no doubt regard any loss of seats in the forthcoming election as heralding the eclipse of the SNP, and as a sign that Scotland and independence have been respectively “dealt with” and “seen off.”
READ MORE: Brexit proved Scotland is in a 'Westminster knows best' union, says Swinney
Add to this the complete absence of any major Scottish (or Welsh, for that matter) figure in the leadership of either of the parties and you realise that Scotland practically does not feature on the UK stage at all. A metaphor for all this, although a real-life one, is the changes to the composition of the Commons: Scotland loses two seats, Wales loses eight, and England gains ten.
I only hope that an increasing number of Scottish voters begin to understand this, and that Scotland needs to opt for all decisions affecting Scotland to be taken by an independent Scotland.
Gavin Brown
Linlithgow
IN my last foray into these pages I said that I was going to suck it up and there would be hope for 2026. Although there were some good points in the SNP manifesto I was plunged into deep depression when I heard John Swinney say that if we had a majority of seats we would ASK for indy to be discussed and for a referendum.
Sir Keir, knowing that he will not need SNP MPs to help him in any way, has booted that idea into Neverland, where it has been since 2014 and will stay unless the SNP step up their game. I cannot hide my feelings of desperation at the very word “ask”. If that is John Swinney’s best shot and his plan for 2026 then it will just not do.
READ MORE: Rishi Sunak: Vote Tory to put independence on backburner for a generation
Having read lots of letters by writers with all different views, I have come to the conclusion that although we all want Scotland to be independent, we have various suggestions on how to do it. The one thing from the manifesto that is obvious is that the current SNP leader does not have the full backing of the members. His woeful route to freedom from this toxic Union is not up to the mark!
So I think we have only one route left to us. At the 2026 Holyrood election we have got to run on a promise to declare Scotland an independent country if we get a majority. It would seem to me that it is the only choice we have. That offer would surely get us over the line and we could take it from there.
We need to start the groundwork for it ASAP so we all know what we are working for. If the SNP leader cannot offer us that then anything else is futile. Westminster is not going to give us anything and Sleekit Sarwar will quickly find out that he is just a small cog in a very large wheel.
READ MORE: Labour's Jonathan Ashworth slated for BBC asylum seeker claims
He might get thrown some crumbs but his magic money tree and 69,000 jobs will disappear like all the other promises made by Sir Keir.
By then we will be an irrelevance in Westminster and some of the SNP MPs will have been made look very weak indeed having promised to hold the government to account but then being sidelined by a Labour Party who can do exactly what they like with no-one to stop them.
It is all about 2026 and it’s also all about how the SNP approach it. More of the same won’t do any more. We need to tell the people of Scotland we are going to TAKE independence. Watch my lips, we are going to TAKE it.
Old John
Ayrshire
THE Supreme Court ruling on June 20 gives weight to the SNP government policy on no new drilling on the continental shelf (Court ruling puts new oil and gas projects in doubt, Jun 21).
It will be very difficult to justify new drilling when they are now required to take account of the consequences for the climate and the environment. This is a clear signpost to the fossil fuel industries that their future lies in green energy, with no way out on the dubious “blue” fuels derived from oil and gas.
READ MORE: Union raises 'concerns' for workers over Linwood industrial fire
Yes, a period of transition is essential to smooth the way, both for energy users and the oil and gas workforce, Equally important are the transitions for agriculture, heavily reliant on oil feedstock for fertilisers; the clothing and footwear industries, using polyesters, acrylics, nylon and Goretex (PTFE); tar for road-surfacing; cookware with Teflon non-stick as another instance. We are all highly reliant on these products based on oil and gas and we don’t yet have the capacity for manufacturing alternatives in the quantity needed.
Who would have thought that the Supreme Court would fashion a large nail for the coffin of the oil and gas industries? However, that doesn’t lead me to think the court is a friend to Scotland.
Sandy Carmichael
Moray
TAM Dalyell, with a little bit of help from Enoch Powell, gave us the West Lothian question back in 1977. Now Starmer has used his visit to West Lothian to make clear his total unwillingness
to discuss a route to independence on the back of SNP representation at Westminster. So, I give you the new West Lothian question. “If we are in a voluntary political union, what is the mechanism for leaving that union?” Perhaps Anas Sarwar can answer that question?
Michael Collie
Dunfermline
FURTHER to the outcome in 2014, Starmer’s flat no to even discuss Scottish independence, Sarwar’s nonsensical statements, Scotland crashing out of the Euros ... from the pen of Irvine Walsh, beautifully delivered by Ewan McGregor: “It is s***e being Scottish”.
Andrew Currie
Renfrew
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