Readers' Letters: SNP Yes man right to say it's time for a new approach to Independence

On Sunday, commenting on last week’s by-election result, adviser to the SNP Stephen Noon said on Radio Scotland: “The age of the referendum is over.” Noon, former chief strategist of the Yes Scotland campaign, is a brave man and perhaps one of the more realistic nationalists, having for some time has been calling for a rethink on independence.

Stephen Noon, a former Yes campaign guru, believes the age of the referendum is over

Previously he stated: “I would argue with my heart and soul for independence.” The problem is, neither he nor any other separatist can provide the economics for a successful independent Scotland where Scots will be better off.

It appears he has at last seen the light and is trying to convince his fellow separatists there is another way. Is he saying the “age” of telling Scots we have “resources”, are “rich in energy” and should be “like any other small country” is not enough, won’t wash any more and a grown-up, intelligent, co-operative way has to be found to convince Scots we are better on our own?

I’m not holding my breath. All the drive for independence has done is to provide underqualified “politicians”, their SPADS, hangers-on and minor celebrities with a gravy train – an excuse to make money on the back of a cause for which there is no successful outcome.

Noon is naturally receiving pelters from the nationalist side – they just can’t bear to hear the truth, having been duped since 2014.

Douglas Cowe, Kingseat, Aberdeenshire

Poor result

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, after Thursday's by-election, said "Scottish politics has fundamentally changed”. Can somebody please go out and survey the position on independence of the residents of Rutherglan and Hamilton West, to put his gas at a peep. Polls consistently show the country is divided 50/50 on independence.

Yes the SNP may have lost support, but many in Scotland will never identify with the branch office that is Labour Scotland.

The by-election has disappointed many nationalists and will only act as spur to many who wish to right the wrong of the 1707 Act of Union.

Stuart Smith, Aberdeen

Limited view

While Anas Sarwar and those in the Central Belt of Scotland might be calling the Rutherglen & Hamilton West results “seismic”, they seem to forget the Central Belt of Scotland is not all of Scotland. The last Scottish Labour Party leader to visit Peterhead was Jim Murphy in 2014 with his Irn-Bru soapbox.

Is it any wonder that the Tories, who should have dualled the A9 and A96 in the 1980s, get away with so much when they have so little, or no, opposition from the Labour Party?

I will let the Scottish Labour Party, who stood no candidates in 2022 local council elections in Peterhead, believe Scotland extends no further than Dundee while the SNP gets on with the task of getting rid of David Duguid MP at next General Election.

Peter Ovenstone, Peterhead, Aberdeenshire

Park cars plan

The Spaces for People (SfP) initiative in Edinburgh, since its introduction during the Covid pandemic, has led to a number of changes to road layouts across the city. One-time broad, multi-lane streets have been reduced to single carriageway in each direction, with routes often causing congestion at times of the day when none previously existed. Queues form behind buses as it is no longer possible for overtaking to take place at many bus stops and the ability to make room for emergency vehicles has been reduced.

Where congestion occurs, it is natural for motorists to seek legitimate, alternative routes. Holyrood Park currently provides such an alternative; effectively enabling vehicular traffic to travel across the city while avoiding congested city centre streets. Historic Environment Scotland’s vision statement, referring to the proposal to close the park to such traffic, states that it is “reflecting wider societal trends away from a dominated urban variety”. Laudable as this vision may be, it fails to anticipate the consequences the loss of this route will have on the limited routes still available for traffic. Indeed, in this example, one outcome is likely to see more vehicles forced to use routes within the planned low emission zone.

Similar initiatives are being introduced in Aberdeen, Inverness, Glasgow and Dundee, absorbing considerable funding to the benefit of cyclists and pedestrians. It will be vital to ensure that the SfP measures in Scotland's cities avoid the creation of new congestion areas and imposing unavoidable additional costs to motorists as a consequence of a myopic focus on non-vehicular movements.

Derek Stevenson, Edinburgh

English failures

Jill Stephenson says claims made about HS2 are inaccurate and that it is simply “whitabootery” to compare it with failed projects in Scotland (Letters, 6 October). In doing so she clearly regards Scottish projects as “separate” despite advocating we are one country under unionism.

Furthermore, she implies project failure is a uniquely SNP characteristic. But the colossal overspend of the Scottish Parliament building was delivered by a unionist party, as were HS2 and Crossrail, both of which have even greater overspends.

If you compare like with like, the picture is somewhat different. Glasgow’s Queen Street Station was designed and rebuilt for £140 million on time and to budget. This sum is roughly the same amount as was allocated for rebuilding London’s Whitechapel station on the Elizabeth Line. But the latter's original £114m cost is now in excess of £831m and it was years late in delivery.

Across the city the annexe to the existing Euston station which is being built as the southern terminus for HS2 was budgeted at a staggering £2.8 billion but has now shot up to nearly £4.8bn. To put that into perspective, Transport Scotland’s total annual budget is circa £4.4bn.

Yet while the ferry fiasco dominates the mainstream media in Scotland, they never report the far greater project failures down south. Why is that ?

Robert Menzies, Falkirk

Jobs now

With regard to The Scotsman lead article concerning a demand for HS2 savings to be spent on the A9 (5 October). The A9 upgrade is no doubt needed but the south West of Scotland is also in dire need of attention. The poor quality of the road connections (and the rail connections) from Dumfries and Port Ryan to Glasgow and at the Port Ryan end of the A75 (a major route to Northern Island) are a disgrace which limits trade and jobs in the region. Why is there no motorway extension to Dumfries from the A74(M)?

The proposed change in spending from the High Speed Rail project to local projects would be a local economic boost to Scotland but should not be just limited to the A9 and the spend, the jobs, are needed now. Leading indicators (quality goods, car and other electronic sales falling) show a recession is just starting and the personal living costs for many have soared unbelievably and impossibly. We need government spending, jobs, now.

Ken Carew, Dumfries

Cost of Covid

What are the lessons so far from the ongoing Covid review? The answer depends on how intimately one was affected by this virus at the time and during the aftermath.

It could be suggested that the whole control system instituted, such as lockdown with financial support for workers and business, was a necessary reaction to what was at the outset considered to be a virus extremely dangerous to human life. How that point of view became prevalent has yet to be explored fully but it seems that experts were involved and politicians got fully on board to support the proposals to contain the virus.

However, within a very few weeks it became obvious that young fit adults, and children in general, were not badly affected but the elderly and younger with underlying health conditions did require more care and attention. It was at this point that the politicians and experts in a functioning democracy should have consulted with the public, presented the facts as known and advised that provided we observed the rules of social gathering, personal hygiene and the safeguarding of those more likely to react adversely to the virus the country could be reopened for business.

Countries such as Sweden trusted their population to follow these rules and largely survived intact without massive government intervention. It would seem that in the UK the population had to be controlled for their own good, with the upshot that Government was held to account for all of the ills that followed, including the vast financial borrowing that will probably condemn the UK to years of austerity.

In short, if the population were given the facts and the responsibility to behave sensibly then the onus is on them to ensure that the more susceptible in society remain protected. That is democracy in action. What we had was left wing, “we know best” dictatorship, not democratic, “give responsibility to the people” that we needed and deserved.

We remain largely in the dark as to the Covid review outcome but the democratic deficit remains, with Government seemingly unable to give clear guidance on any issue that confronts the country today. At least Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appears lately to recognise that action, rather than words, is what the country is in desperate need of.

A Lewis, Coylton, Ayrshire

Write to The Scotsman

We welcome your thoughts – no letters submitted elsewhere, please. Write to [email protected] including name, address and phone number – we won't print full details. Keep letters under 300 words, with no attachments, and avoid 'Letters to the Editor/Readers’ Letters' or similar in your subject line – be specific. If referring to an article, include date, page number and heading.