We can afford it, but do we want it?

With the Treasury rumoured to be publishing another anti-independence paper imminently, seeking to undermine the financial strength of an independent Scotland, the paper shows that Scotland’s public sector debt is lower than that of the UK as a whole.

It also includes figures published last week which showed that pension and welfare costs account for a smaller share of the economy in Scotland than is the case for the UK as a whole and most of the EU 15 – and that tax receipts in Scotland, on a per capita basis, have been higher than those of the UK for the past 30 years.

Over those past 30 years, Scotland has paid £222 billion more in tax than its per capita share – including £150bn more during the 1980s, when the Tories were steadily dismantling our heavy industries.

There is no doubt now that Scotland could more than afford to be independent. What all sides should now be debating is how Scotland can use its relative fiscal strength to build a fairer, more prosperous society, which is so badly lacking in the UK.

Alex Orr

Edinburgh

It has been suggested that there should be two options to be considered when voting in the 2014 referendum, the second being: “Should Scotland remain part of the United Kingdom?”

Alex Salmond is quite right. There is only one question: “Should Scotland be an independent country?” And, for the referendum to be a success, there must be at least a 90 per cent turnout.

Then, and only then, if two-thirds of the population of Scotland, over the age of 16, vote Yes for independence, then we should have independence.

But we shouldn’t have independence if only 55 per cent of the people turn out to vote – or if, of that 55 per cent, only 60 per cent vote Yes.

This would mean that only 33 per cent of the population, or one person in every three, would be in favour of independence.

The vote on 18 September, 2014 is not a vote to elect a five-year government or to score political points. It is asking the nation one question: should Scotland be an independent country?

The long-term future of this country will depend purely on the number of  people in favour.

James Mitchell

Edinburgh

I have just heard on the radio what must be one of the oldest and grossest canards that opponents of Scotland’s independence raise – that of freedom of travel between Scotland and England.

Of course, it will certainly remain unrestricted after independence.

After all, in what circumstances would the two governments wish to create needless travel problems?

There is indeed a Common Travel Area (CTA) agreement which currently exists between all parts of the British Isles, including Ireland, and while future membership of the Schengen Agreement by Scotland, England or Ireland would effectively end the CTA, this seems unlikely, given the British view that security is easier to enforce in an island setting.

Ireland, of course, has its own reasons for not wishing to create problems at its land border with Northern Ireland.

So the obvious choice for an independent Scotland is to continue the CTA until such time, if ever it arrives, that it is entirely subsumed into the Schengen travel area.

Either way, the fears of the scaremongers regarding travel can be dismissed.

Peter Craigie

Edinburgh