Letter: Referendum must cover all options

I AGREE with James Gilmour (Debate, 24 July) that the questions in an independence referendum should be kept simple, but his second question (Further devolution or Independence?) will disenfranchise those that want neither.

This is an important point to make because, despite what politicians say, Scotland remains a good place to live for many people and everyone should have the choice whether they want to endorse significant change or not. Many people may be happy enough with the "status quo", particularly if additional powers have already been added by that point via the Scotland Bill.

A referendum on Scottish independence should have one simple question: "Do you support an independent Scotland? Yes or No? If further devolution is sought, then the separate question is "Do you support further devolution? Yes or no? This allows us to consent to or to reject either (or indeed both), and the relative support between the two is easily verified. All options are covered.

In both cases, politicians need to define what "independence" and "further devolution" actually are. The prospect of us not giving consent to either will simply increase the pressure on politicians to develop their ideas properly.

At the moment, we are just getting a lot of ineffectual talk on this and letter writers are starting to repeat themselves. We need to move things on a bit if we are to spend time on this at all.

Victor Clements, Aberfeldy