Brits get raw deal

Douglas Turner (Letters, 6 March) accuses me of being angry, which is true, but he also makes a number of statements that are untrue according to the white paper and the Yes campaign.

My family, a few generations back, fled from Lvov in Russian Poland – as Polish Jews they were a persecuted minority. Lvov became Lemberg in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, fell under Nazi domination and is now Lviv in Ukraine and thus much in the news. Linked to that is the position of Ukrainian and Russian nationality and ethnicity in Crimea and wider Ukraine – there will be many tears before that situation is sorted out.

The Scottish Government, on page 273 of the white paper, intends to make all British citizens living in Scotland, including those born south of the Border, Scottish on the day of independence. There is no mechanism to repudiate this, according to Yes Scotland in an e-mail to me. One has to move south of the Border before that date to remain British. The only other option is to apply for dual nationality. That affects 500,000 people. The 800,000 Scots-born people south of the Border are in the same position. I am sorry, Mr Turner, but that is 1.3 million people arbitrarily stripped of their nationality, 800,000 of whom have no vote.

How a country that trumpets its superior social justice and democracy can suggest this is beyond me. I am happy to remain in and contribute to an independent Scotland, but I wish to remain solely British. I am happy for Mr Turner to be Scottish, but never again will a domineering government force my family to accept a foreign nationality. We will want the rUK government to protect us and while I am sure many wish to stay, my family have been refugees once and if necessary will be so again. I am angry that this situation could exist in western Europe in the 21st century and I believe I am right to be so.

Dr Roger I Cartwright

Turretbank Place

Crieff, Perthshire