Ships argument is badly holed

IT IS startling that so many on the Nationalist side of the referendum debate have had, it seems, an irony bypass. They are supposedly outraged at the suggestion that a country may prefer, even insist, on building its own warships in its own shipyards and, led by Nicola Sturgeon, imply that the new UK would continue to use the Clyde yards even if their dream is fulfilled and Scotland becomes a foreign country.

Meanwhile, they insist that in the SNP’s Scotland, the fantasy ships for its fantasy navy will be built only in Scotland. They fail to see how exactly the same principle should not be applied, at whatever the cost, to the new UK.

With this kind of reasoning it is perfectly clear why they trail so badly in the opinion polls.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh