Support is lackingfor independence

Published on Saturday 31 October 2009 18:47

WHEN will the SNP realise that every national election in which they have campaigned has offered the Scottish electorate the opportunity to vote for independence?

My first personal experience of a General Election was in 1974 when the posters declared 'Independence this time – Yes'. My political experience came in 1992 when we were told that Scotland would be 'Free by '93'! The fact is that every recent election to both Westminster and Holyrood has failed to show that the people of Scotland either support independence or indeed want a choice over it. If they had, there would have been a clear majority of votes for those parties that supported it, as there was in 1997 for devolution.

Michael Russell ('Give Scots the right to decide their future, 25 October) writes that "it is only with full financial powers that come with independence that Scotland can hope to compete on a level playing field with our friends in neighbouring countries".

As a Scot who wants the very best for our nation, I'm not so sure that I want to compete on the same playing field as either Ireland or Iceland at present. I prefer the key role that we play within a Premier Division team to a team stuck in the lower leagues. Indeed, the SNP referendum on independence may have as much support as the desire of the Old Firm to play in England. Both are dreams with little support outside their own narrow perspectives, and both offer the probability of many years simply trying to make ends meet while the bigger prizes are fought over elsewhere.

Paul Sewell, Polmont