Readers Letters: Failing SNP should listen to wise words of Fergus Ewing

How refreshing to read the article by grand SNP sage Fergus Ewing at the weekend. Undoubtedly the most recognisable and respected Scottish nationalist, he holds nothing back in his substantial criticism of the party he has been part of all of his adult life.

Criticising Humza Yousaf, he said the former first minister “chose to continue with the approach of a semi-cult of the personality of his predecessor”. His anger was palpable as he denounced “the old faces in the Cabinet closely allied to Nicola Sturgeon”. He went on: “It’s hard to conceive just how far removed now the SNP priorities are from those of the Scottish public.”

He concludes: “There is no chance of a second referendum following the landslide Labour victory.”

Veteran SNP MSP Fergus Ewing has refused to be cowed by rules on speaking out in public against his party (Picture: John Devlin)

Mr Ewing is telling it as it is yet disciples of the “semi-cult” refuse to listen to sense, they prefer the emotional nonsense of marches, flags, endless promises of yet another referendum and independence tomorrow from vacuous politicians. It appears the party is not listening either, as it hopes to open more foreign “embassies” with an obscene £800,000 allocated.

I hate to tell you, Fergus, but those of us who oppose separation have been preaching all of this for years. You clearly are wasting your valuable time.

Douglas Cowe, Kingseat, Aberdeenshire

Ship has sailed

Alex Salmond claims that if he’d “known that ten years on from the 2014 Referendum Scotland would still not be independent” he’d have stayed on as first minister. And done what, exactly?

Salmond was the man willing to lead Scots over the independence precipice, based only upon his personal – and hugely incorrect – belief that an independent Scotland was the only way forward. As the saying goes, for Salmond, that ship has sailed. He can address as many rallies as he likes, the tide for independence has long gone out. And so has he.

Doug Morrison, Tenterden, Kent

Accept defeat

As Scotland gradually shuts down it seems our government is oblivious (“Flynn wants summit to ‘break impasse’ over independence”, 14 September). The impasse is non existent. The SNP implied the July general election was to be a "de facto" referendum and there can be little doubt that if the SNP had done well then the demand would now be strident. The reality, however, was a disaster for independence.

Stephen Flynn clings to nostalgia over the odd 50/50 poll. The general election was the real deal and its outcome cannot be disputed. On the tenth anniversary of the actual Scottish independence referendum it is finally time to declare the matter decided. The “nos” have it”.

Gerald Edwards, Glasgow

Blinkered

The poll organised by Opinium over voting intentions (John McLellan, Perspective, 17 September) failed to address the fact that, in Scotland, the key debate must be whether saving the planet takes precedence over Indyref2.

There is not a single political party at Holyrood that admits the problem highlighted by the paper issued by the Just Transition Committee that a net zero policy comes with a £1 trillion debt.

If repaid over 90 years that requires taxpayers having to face an £11 billion bill every year for the next nine decades or an annual tax increase of around £4,000 for every Scottish taxpayer.

Did Opinium point out such details to the 18-34-year-old participants in the survey and why do Douglas Ross, Anas Sarwar and Alex Cole-Hamilton never debate such repayment costs at Holyrood ?

Ian Moir, Castle Douglas, Dumfries and Galloway

Separate lies

Why do Scottish separatists use fake statistics? Robert Farquharson (Letters, 17 September) tells us that, according to recent polling, younger voters support secession from the UK to the extent of “probably over 70 per cent”.

The latest figure I have seen is 63 per cent, in line with a Panelbase survey from May 2021 of 62 per cent. That same poll found that if younger people learned that their household would be £1,000 a year worse off outside the UK, that 62 per cent would halve to 31 per cent.

The problem pro-UK voters face is that the SNP continues to tell Scots that they would be better off outside the UK. Anyone remotely numerate knows that is not true: the financial problems now admitted by the SNP regime are evidence that Scotland needs the UK’s support to live at its current standard. If only the SNP would tell the truth about this – but it can’t, because, if it did, its support would melt away like snow off a dyke.

Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh

Ageing opinions

Your correspondent Robert Farquharson reminded us that backing for Scotland leaving the UK, while trending pretty much consistently below 50 per cent for the decade since the independence referendum, often shows more than half of younger voters as Scexit supporting.

Mr Farquharson, however, appears to fall into the age-old trap of assuming that because the vast majority of older people oppose separatism, as they die, percentage support for Scexit will inevitably grow. In this, he is incorrect. Younger people tend to be more idealistic, less risk-averse and have less invested in the status quo. Yet the young don't stay young forever! They grow up to be concerned about the very real financial risks presented by the prospect of a breakaway state on the provision of public services, state benefits and pensions.

In short, as people age, with life experience behind them, they generally tend to become more conservative – and to oppose the kind of sweeping change represented by living in a country without the security blanket of the UK and no imminent prospect of joining the EU. Many of the young Yes supporters of today are the No voters of tomorrow.

Martin Redfern, Melrose, Roxburghshire

Beyond borders

One of my favourite charities is Medecins Sans Frontieres, Doctors Without Borders, recognising that human need, medically, physically and spiritually, surpasses all borders, including the constant movements of people, migration.

Keir Starmer's visit to Italy was a welcome move to discuss the whole issue of immigration (your report, 17 September), not least tackling it at source with the unscrupulous people smugglers, filling a cynical vacuum for criminal financial gain. The Italian solution, which is successful in numerical, but not humanitarian, terms – a scheme strikingly akin to the Rwanda plan conjured up by our previous government, but thankfully dropped after the recent election – is an equally repugnant plan, substituting Albania for Rwanda. It's all too easy to reduce immigrants to a statistic, forgetting that behind each number lies desperate human need. Would it not be to our mutual benefit to welcome immigrants, comprising mostly young people, to bolster our rapidly aging population? After all, it's not just Medecins that is Sans Frontieres.

Ian Petrie, Edinburgh

Style hypocrisy

It is hard to imagine the level of vitriol, poison and malice that would have rained down on Boris Johnson or Rishi Sunak coming from Labour had either accepted donations for clothes, and indeed, including a personal shopper for their respective wives.

Further, one can only try and imagine this happening after the “nasty” Tory Party had withdrawn the Winter Fuel Allowance.

How clear, though, it is that the flame on the candle of left wing hypocrisy is burning ever more brightly.

The ludicrousness of the defence offered by David Lammy for these donations is only matched by the comments from Lucy Powell, Leader of the House of Commons, that a “run on the pound” may have been the consequence of not withdrawing the Winter Fuel Allowance.

It all brings to mind the quote that “When fools try to fool others, they actually manifest how foolish they are”.

Richard Allison, Edinburgh

Otter joy

Wendy Gomersall’s otter adventures in Shetland made for a delightful read (“An otterly lovely time in Shetland”, 14 September).

It was the wholesome escape from darker news items that I needed. Like Wendy, it has been a long-held dream of mine to see otters in the wild – though we don't have any here in Australia!

Her beautiful article not only transported me across the world, but further inspired me to make this happen someday. In turbulent times, we need such escapes more than ever. Keep up the great reportage!

Rowan MacDonald, Hobart, Tasmania

Sporting irony

It seems a bit ironic that while the Scottish Government is backing Scotland hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games, citing the “legacy” benefits for Glasgow, they are studiously ignoring the impending demise of Grangemouth Stadium, a sports icon for Central Scotland for more than 50 years, a beacon for the former prosperity of the town that played a major role in the lives many young people's lives, including mine.

Eight years ago Nicola Sturgeon signed the death warrant for Grangemouth's petrochemical industry when she strangled at birth Jim Ratcliffe's plan to develop the shale deposits right under Grangemouth's manufacturing and transportation infrastructure, by refusing planning permission for exploratory drilling.

Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire

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