Yes, details please

At last someone has articulated a prospectus that might help the Yes for independence campaign get out of its current rut in the polls.

Natalie McGarry has managed to inject a note of confidence and realism into what is needed (Perspective, 19 June).

People need detail on broadcasting, benefits, border control, defence, passports, pensions, taxation, tuition fees and all the rest. That means detail on what the position will be in 2016 if autonomy comes about.

There are some positive noises from finance secretary John Swinney that we shall shortly be getting the sort of information nearly a million pensioners in Scotland are yearning for (your report, same day). But we also need detail, for example, on what the status of our passport will be in three years’ time.

This is not simply to counter some of the horrific scare stories in some sections of the tabloid press. It is simply to ensure that those of us who want a holiday abroad in that year can get it without major inconvenience.

Once that sort of detail is available it ought to be much easier for the Yes lobby to get its message across.

It is simple good sense, as well as good manners, to direct that message to as wide a section of the social spectrum as possible.

Ms McGarry made her plea for inclusiveness on the same day as another intolerant outburst by students heckling Ukip leader Nigel Farage.

She was right to call for a recognition that those of a conservative disposition have something valid to offer in an independent scotland.

Her argument was foiled a bit by the incidents in Aberdeen. It ought not to detract from her essential point that detail and vision are the two pillars on which the Yes campaign can thrive.

Bob Taylor

Glenrothes