Past wrongs

As Ken Curry (Letters, 10 June) despairs of the First Minister’s language (“very foolish”) he should consider the past and 
current actions and statements, rather than promises, of Westminister. For example, the Hardman Report on the Dispersal of the Civil Service (1973) said of Scotland and Wales: “To the extent they are something more than regions they are tolerable because they are small.”

Or the infamous 40 per cent of the electorate rule introduced for the 1979 Scottish Parliament referendum which caused a 51.6 per cent majority to be treated as a failure.

Or the disproportionate First World War army losses suffered by Scotland.

Or the Scottish Adjacent Waters Boundaries Order 1999, which shifted Scotland’s North Sea border causing a transfer of 6,000 square miles from Scottish to English jurisdiction.

Or food banks or child poverty or nuclear weapons. Or the Telegraph leader’s comments on Alex Salmond on the day the referendum campaign began: “Let us ensure he does not succeed.”

Better Together? I don’t think so. Mr Currie should beware of the promise of more devolved powers. Think 1979. Independence is too good to miss.

AR Nelson

Scarletmuir

Lanark