Fear factor was of Yes camp’s making

As a No voter I am of course delighted with the result to stay in the Union.

However, the responses yesterday morning that the No side won because of a campaign of fear in the last days is ridiculous.

In actual fact it was the Yes campaign’s tactics of aggression and intimidation towards No voters that created fear in many and in my opinion resulted in them not revealing their true voting intentions for fear of abuse.

That gave the Yes campaign a false expectation of victory.

However, I am greatly relieved that following the Yes vote we now do not have to experience the frightening prospect of watching 
First Minister Alex Salmond’s hollow promises collapsing in tatters around his ankles in the run-up to actual ­independence, when it would have been too late to go back.

Finally, I am delighted that No voters are able to claim the Saltire back after it was usurped by the Yes campaign. It will now be truly a symbol of the real “Team Scotland”.

Raymond Paul

Braid Farm Road

Edinburgh

In a campaign which looked so simple but was in fact full of complexity and strewn with banana skins, Prime Minister David ­Cameron proved himself an accomplished political tactician. He refused to put
devo-max on the ballot which would, in my opinion, have split the amorphous No vote, leaving the field to 
Alex Salmond’s disciplined brigades.

Gordon Brown, saviour of the world, made a late entry allegedly to save Britain but in fact to railroad Cameron into a version of devo-max favouring Labour.

The Prime Minister is too smart for that and the Scots may get devo-max but it will probably involve binning the Barnett formula while the English finally get a ­parliament of their own.

Alex Salmond lost and the lecture circuit beckons but the real loser is Ed Miliband, whose days as Labour leader are numbered.

(Rev) Dr John
 Cameron

Howard Place

St Andrews

True Scots should not be too despondent about the referendum result.

Now that Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling, Douglas Alexander, Jim Murphy, et al, can again put Scotland on the back burner and ensconce themselves in their cosy green benches down at Westminster, drawing inflated wages from the public purse, 45 per cent of us can excuse ourselves from any culpability when the promised extra powers to the Scottish ­Parliament are cast aside, minimised or deferred. The 55 per cent, on the other hand, will have much to contemplate when they are left grinding on the rusty Tory/Labour swings and roundabouts of London establishment politics; the platitudes of the above named politicians but a distant memory returning to haunt them.

I never thought I would ever say it but, with Edinburgh ashamedly returning the largest percentage of No votes, Glasgow should be designated the new capital of Scotland. Perhaps Edinburgh could be chosen by the 55 per cent as the capital of North Britain.

William Burns

Pennywell Road

Edinburgh