Parcel of rogues

So 65 per cent of the Scottish people would vote for independence if it could be demonstrated that they would be better off by the princely sum of £500 per annum (your report, 5 December).

Compare we 21st-century Scots with those other peoples down through history who have in fact been prepared to make sacrifices for their freedom.

What a parcel of rogues we have become: prepared to sell our centuries-old relationship with the other nations of these islands for just under ten pounds per week.

I wonder what the lower limit would be. Five pounds? Two pounds fifty? Free entry in a prize draw?

What a foundation for a newly independent state. Proud and dignified? No indeed, “tacky” is the word which comes to mind.

John Milne

Ardgowan Drive

Uddingston

The people of Scotland may be voting for independence in slightly increasing numbers, as your report indicates, but unless Scotland has its own currency, it will have no more than an increased version of devolution.

The SNP has managed to avoid answering this important question for years, but as the euro has finally shown it needs centralised taxation in order to function properly as a single currency, the SNP’s European policy has been left in shreds.

Just as importantly, the failure of the euro without centralised taxation highlights why fiscal autonomy for Scotland in the UK is a non-starter.

The Scottish media has finally woken up to the weaknesses in SNP policy and is now pushing the party to explain how Scotland can possibly be independent if London is allowed to control interest rates and monetary policy.

This will deny Scotland the ability to manage its own economy, although, in its latest booklet, the SNP still claims that using sterling will allow Scotland the freedom to determine our own economic priorities.

Is the party being disingenuous or dishonest?

With the reality of the euro’s failure so fresh in their minds, the Scottish electorate is unlikely to be so easily taken in.

Jim Fairlie

Heathcote Road

Crieff