This is a gross distortion that smacks of paranoid delusion. Also, where their take is that Westminster has an attitude of “get back in your box Scotland” I see pretty much the opposite, with SNP MPs and MSPs as a gang of recalcitrants intent only on creating division and chaos instead of cooperating and governing for the good of the people of Scotland in accordance with the agreed principles of devolution and the ethos of the “Edinburgh Agreement”.

I, as a Scot, have pretty much the same rights, privileges, freedoms and opportunities as the rest of my fellow countrymen in England, Wales and Northern Ireland with whom I have worked, served, partied and, unfortunately, mourned, and I love them all. This concept of Scots as subordinates and English as masters, is total mythology and pure divisive hateful propaganda.

The fake news and nonsense spouted by SNP/Indy zealots would have you think we are living in North Korea. The UK, and by extension Scotland, is part of the world’s sixth largest economy and one of the most democratic in the free world. Scots of all political persuasions, religions, class, ethnicity and genders are well included and represented in the UK at all levels in business, health, sciences, engineering, armed forces and politics etc. In the 21st century Scots have held a whole range of very senior leadership positions, up to and including that of prime minister in Gordon Brown. All part of the 800,000 born Scots who choose to live and work in harmony with their fellow countrymen in other parts of the UK.

Despite what some say, most Scots and English can live in harmony, reckons reader (Picture: Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)

Scotland a vassal state? I don’t think so! Independence offers only parochial isolation, greater austerity and would be far, far more damaging to Scotland than Brexit .

William Morgan, Midstocket, Aberdeen

Saving water

On Thursday on BBC1’s Question Time, SNP deputy Westminster leader Mhairi Black claimed water had not been privatised “because of devolution”. I realise that devolution only happened when she was four years old but in actual fact it was a Strathclyde Regional Council Referendum on March 1994 which asked Scots if they wanted water privatised as it was in England.

The answer was a resounding No and how wise that looks in retrospect; if only we could similarly introduce referendae on the Swiss model to give our politicians feedback on other controversial policies – gender self-ID comes to mind but there are many others.

Can we be assured that the Victorian-era sewage pipes and facilities in Scotland will continue to be upgraded and properly maintained, avoiding Thames Water's appalling sewage dumps into the water supply, rivers and beaches?

Marjorie Ellis Thompson, Edinburgh

Same principle

In response to concerns raised in Holyrood in April about its plans to create Highly Protected Marine Areas in 10 per cent of Scotland’s seas, our First Minister responded by saying: “A very basic principle that we have always operated by, and I continue to reaffirm and confirm today, is that we are not going to impose these policies on communities that don't want them, so we will work constructively with them.”

Does Thursday’s news that they have scrapped their plans mean they will also reconsider forcing wind farms and other unwanted development on rural communities which do not want them?

Campaign Group Scotland Against Spin has already raised this very question in their Public Petition to the Scottish Parliament which asks for an increase in the ability of communities to influence planning decisions. At the moment our views are largely ignored.

The views of coastal and rural communities are equally important and we expect the Scottish Government to be consistent and fair.

Aileen Jackson, Scotland Against Spin, Uplawmoor, East Renfrewshire

Good riddance

The ruling by the Court of Appeal that the UK Government plan to send asylum-seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda is unlawful should hardly come as a surprise (your report, 30 June). Putting aside the cost, estimated at £169,000 for every person deported and processed, there is the small matter of Rwanda’s human rights record. Hence the Court ruling that Rwanda had not provided enough safeguards to prove it is a “safe third country”.

According to the US Department of State there are reports that the Rwandan government has committed arbitrary or unlawful killings, with further documentation of the abuse of detainees by police, as well as arbitrary arrests and detention.

It also notes that the government continued to use arbitrary arrest as a tool to discourage government critics, independent voices and political opposition members. Local officials and state security forces also continue to detain and imprison some individuals who had previously disagreed with government decisions, or the police.

The proposed Rwanda scheme has, thankfully, been shown to be unworkable, unethical and indeed, highly expensive, par for the course for a Tory government more interested in dog-whistle politics than reason and compassion.

Alex Orr, Edinburgh

Full country

Our government thinks deporting asylum seekers arriving on boats to Rwanda is a good idea, despite it being ruled unlawful. I think it is financially unsound and morally wrong to deport desperate and brave people seeking sanctuary here to a poverty-stricken country that is still notorious for a genocidal civil war. That’s probably why it was chosen. Nonetheless, most asylum seekers coming by boat probably won’t know this and will not be deterred.

An important argument that has not yet been aired is that around population density. One reason advocated for our own strict immigration controls is that our country is full. The population density in Rwanda in 2020, by United Nations population division forecasts, was 525 people per sq km. By contrast, in 2020 the UK had a population density of 281 people per sq km. In Scotland it is less than 70 per sq km.

How can we justify sending people to such an overcrowded country? That country is already full. If we do, we must discard the population density argument in the control of UK immigration.

(Prof) Raj S Bhopal CBE, Edinburgh

Get real on litter

Most of the streets, especially the side streets, of my Fife home town of Leven are generally pretty litter-strewn and have been so since it was decided to remove all the old black litter bins, for no given reason, some years ago, in the apparent belief that the locals would take their rubbish home.

Time to get real, council guys: take away the bins and litter is chucked on the ground. One of the new litter-initiatives might be – ta-dah! – the reappearance of the old bins. Enough people used the bins to justify the cost of emptying said receptacles. (And don't talk to me about scaffies!)

Steve Hayes, Leven, Fife

Green glories

What a huge benefit it has been to Scotland to have the invaluable political input from the amazing Greens. From the Gender Recognition Reform Bill (now in front of the courts), via the deposit return scheme (this particular can has been kicked way into the long grass), the ban on junk food promotions (this was too hard to swallow) and now the scrapping of the Highly Protected Marine Areas proposal (sunk without trace).

When you add in their opposition to making the A9 and A96 safer, thus saving lives, you really have to wonder not only why they are in government, but also how did they get elected in the first place?

Jim Houston, Edinburgh

So unreasonable

Where do all these Scottish council workers who are apparently on the brink of striking think the money to pay their wage demands will come from?

Don’t they know the SNP/Green administration paymasters, when they cut council allocations, have pretend embassies to open and staff?

Don’t they know there is a queue of MPs and MSPs and their entourages also anxious to get overseas and spread the “I” word worldwide?

Don’t they know that there are selfies to be taken with nonentities overseas who have been conned into meeting them?

Don’t they know that they may be forced to raise council tax by up to 22 per cent some say to cover all their spending?

First things first. When will you people get your priorities right?

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh

Readers' Letters: Scotland is anything but a 'vassal state'

Comments