No defence

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond recently claimed that Scotland would be less secure post-independence.

Yet we are currently “Nimrodless” and with no UK surface warships based in Scottish waters, other than minesweepers and fishery protection vessels. So just how secure are we now when Russian warships are moored off our coast?

If our early-warning system is going to be Twitter, just how serious is our Scotland-based defence posture? At least the SNP’s white paper proposes a surface fleet of substantial ocean-going warships as well as long-range reconnaissance aircraft.

Fergus Wood

Ledard Farm

Kinlochard, Stirlingshire