No majority to quit EU

Bill McLean (Letters, 8 January) may do well to heed his own advice and "examine his own letter more carefully". If he did, he would discover that his contention – "the majority of people in England would like to leave the EU" – is easily refuted.

An ICM poll last August found 21 per cent of people from across the UK agreed with total withdrawal from the EU (with the separate Scottish and English figures unlikely to deviate significantly from the UK average). An even more comprehensive Eurobarometer survey, in December, concluded "there are no countries where EU support is outstripped by opposition".

Such conclusions provide a far more accurate reflection of reality, as well as a far firmer starting point for debate.

ELSPETH ATTWOOLL, MEP

Queen Street

Glasgow

Bill McLean must be deluded if he thinks Scotland has no enemies and is unlikely to create any (Letters, 8 January). The Nationalists' anti-English rhetoric is making no friends anywhere.

Apart from people on the right of the Tory party and UKIP, the vast majority in England are pro-UK and pro-EU, so there is no need for Scotland to apply to be the 51st state of the US.

But Mr McLean does confirm that it is not independence that the SNP wants but secession from the UK only.

COLIN WILSON

Maggie Woods Loan

Falkirk