Indy detractors deliberately misconstrue

The topicalised prospect of Indyref 2 is eliciting some concern and the much-quoted comment about “once-in-a-generation/lifetime” etc is repeating like a stuck CD.

I cannot think why either Nicola Sturgeon’s or Alex Salmond’s phraseology during the referendum campaign, in their efforts to emphasise the importance of voting Yes, should be misconstrued to mean they were pledges instead of simply persuasive reinforcement words.

Not to mention how those doing the misconstruing somehow diminish the more authentic pledges made by Cameron, Clegg and Brown etc in the lead up to the 2014 poll. The statements by these unionist protagonists were consciously put  across as pledges, whereas the remarks from Ms Sturgeon and Mr Salmond were just such – remarks, no more than that.

It’s the old adage – people hear what they want to hear.

Tony Tucker (Letters, 14 September) asks, regarding Nicola Sturgeon: “What is her plan for making Scotland an attractive place in which to inspire and motivate traditional Scottish inventiveness and enterprise, to invest and do business, to create jobs and wealth, and to bring up a family in an atmosphere of neighbourliness and co-operation, a nation at peace with itself?”

Ms Sturgeon’s one-word answer to this kind of  question has been heard many times – independence.

Ian Johnstone

Forman Drive

Peterhead

The SNP are about to make electoral history, it appears. Their manifesto for next year’s elections will contain two diametrically opposed polices on adjacent pages!

Your report (15 September) of the most recent opinion poll tells us that a third of those who may currently intend to vote SNP would be less likely to do so if the party proposes a second referendum.

So in order to keep them on board Ms Sturgeon will tell them that there will be no second referendum – unless etc, etc. Meanwhile, the 31 per cent more likely to vote SNP if there is a pledge for a second referendum will be told that there will indeed be a second referendum – if etc, etc.

This is of course perfectly in keeping with the  usual chameleon-like SNP approach of creating the  impression of being all things to all men.

If it works and the SNP are elected she will then claim that she has a mandate for a second referendum. She is very fond of telling us that it is the Scottish people who will make such a decision.

Why then does she not have the gumption to be honest with the Scottish people and declare unequivocally in her manifesto her obvious intention to seek a second referendum during the next term of office if re-elected?

And when she does not do so, will the Scottish people at last realise that hers is a party with no credibility?

Colin Hamilton

Braid Hills Avenue

Edinburgh

We seem governed by selective opinion polls rather than the ballot box these days. In next year’s elections for the new Scottish Parliament why not include a second ballot paper on the subject of a second referendum?

Giving voters their say might also allow the government to concentrate on the election issues for which our MSPs already have responsibility such as education, housing, health and local government, and Police Scotland.

Jim Craigen

Downie Grove

Edinburgh