Yes to indyref 2

Even worse it seems that the SNP can’t wait to have another independence referendum. Wasting all this money on referendums, when councils, the police and our health services are struggling to handle the funding pressures they face, really shows SNP priorities.

If there is another referendum (God forbid) then I think the question should be: “Should Scotland remain part of the United Kingdom?”

A simple Yes or No answer would serve as response.

This question has the advantage of getting the Better Together campaign off to the best possible start, given all the Yes stickers that been left on road signs, lampposts, etc, from last September.

It makes me smile to I imagine the panic among Nationalists, rushing round trying to cover up their thousands of Yes stickers with Noes.

Willie Robertson

Liberal Democrat councillor

Perth & Kinross Council

South Street  Milnathort, Kinross

We are now told that the true cost to the taxpayer of the referendum was £15.8 million – an “unexpected” overspend of £2.1m (your report, 5 September).

The cost of the referendum is justified by John Swinney on the grounds that it was “a triumph for democracy” since there was a turnout of 84 per cent. Indeed it was. But what Mr Swinney and his followers prefer to forget is that more than 55.3 per cent of that exceptionally high turnout rejected the SNP’s flawed case. So while it may have been a triumph for democracy it was not a triumph for the SNP.

Given that democracy triumphed in the one poll which really matters, the SNP needs to think carefully before committing the taxpayer to fork up another £16m or so in pursuit of its obsession.

Colin Hamilton

Braid Hills Avenue

Edinburgh