Reporter comment

We did vote to remain in the United Kingdom in 2014 and will do so again. We do not wish to return to the divisive politics of that time.

Scotland is falling behind because of her poor SNP government and failed policies.

We have just had our new council tax bills in, with increases imposed by Holyrood. Obviously they want us to pay for their next referendum, instead of using the money to pay for better services for all.

In the words of the Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats Willie Rennie: “Our United Kingdom is an uplifting, mutually beneficial partnership that we should cherish rather than trash. We must stand up and be counted for our values. This is a battle of ideas and values, not of identities and flags.”

Margaret Horrell

Helensburgh

I DOUBT very much if the reader who only writes the occasional letter to “Letters to the Editor,” realises just how well read that letter will be.

Local newspapers around the country, like this one, recently printed a letter of mine about those who have served in the Royal Navy trying to find their old shipmates.

The response has been fantastic – there are now over 40 Royal Navy Reunion Weekends organised around the country.

For those who are seeking the camaraderie of the past, the reunions are listed on the RN Shipmates web site, www.rnshipmates.co.uk, and if your readers want to get in touch and start a search, the contact is there.

For those not on email drop a line to Mike Crowe, 7 Heath Road, Sandown, Isle of Wight, PO36 8PG and I will send you a list and all details. A stamp will help the pension! (Please leave the stamp on its own backing paper.)

See you there, and thank you local newspapers.

Mike Crowe

via email

KEZIA Dugdale says Scottish Labour would never support independence and always be unionist because it was part of their values (Evening Times, Feb 25, 2017).

I don’t know what Scottish Labour she thinks held such hardline Unionist values because Scottish Labour’s history shows a picture conditional unionism and a strong undercurrent for independence.

Is she seriously claiming she knows more about Labour values than the first ever MP to sit as Labour in the House of Commons – R B Cunninghame Graham? The man who jointly founded the Scottish Labour party with Keir Hardie AND the SNP (Daily Record, Dec 10, 2012)?

Is she saying wartime Labour Scottish Secretary Tom Johnston didn’t represent Labour values when Alastair Dunnett, ex- Scotsman editor, wrote that Johnston declared “his belief that Scotland’s future rested upon her obtaining full political Independence for his country” (Herald, Mar 6, 2017)?

Was Lanarkshire Labour MP James Barr betraying his values when he proposed independent status for Scotland in equal relationship with England (Article by his Great, Great, Grandson on National Collective, Jan 31, 2013)?

What of South Ayrshire Labour MP Alex Sloan, who talked at an SNP rally, after the release of the SNP leader on spurious charges (Chapter 9 of “At the Helm: The life & times of Dr Robert D McIntyre” by former Labour and SNP MP Dick Douglas)?

Then we have the famous James Maxton who said that with “a free Scottish Socialist Commonwealth... we could do more in five years... than would be produced by 25 or 30 years’ heartbreaking work in the British House of Commons” (page 50 of “John Maxton” by William Knox). Is Kezia Dugdale suggesting she knows better than James Maxton about Labour values?

Or what of the STUC in 1918 which called for separate Scottish national representation at the Versailles on the same level as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other dominions had requested and won (page 139 of “Forward!: Labour politics in Scotland, 1888-1988”)? By that very status they moved from being Imperial territories which Westminster had taken to war in 1914 without consultation to recognised independent states within the League of Nations.

That Kezia Dugdale does not appreciate the values of those Labour representatives only begs the question of how deeply she has been involved with the Labour movement. If she was deeply immersed she would have surely appreciate that sounding like Ruth Davidson’s Tory unionist echo is the antithesis of the values of those past members.

That she doesn’t even know, appreciate or wilfully ignores them may explain why she has taken Scottish Labour to the unprecedented polling depths of 14 per cent (Panelbase Poll, Feb 8-13, 2017) as her party signals they will ally with the Tories in Scotland’s council chambers (Herald, Dec 30, 2016).

The Tories may be the main threat at the coming local elections but it is Kezia Dugdale’s Unionist New Labour that will eagerly hand them the keys to the door. What sort of “Labour values” countenance that?

Bill Wallace

via email

I WAS appalled to hear Nicola Sturgeon announce that she is going to call for a second referendum within the next two years as it is the wish of “the Scottish people.”

So another two years of uncertainty. This is oh so bad for the Scottish economy.

I can’t understand why she thinks she has a mandate to do this unless it is to keep sweet her SNP supporters. The SNP did not get a majority of the votes in the Holyrood elections – therefore no mandate.

The SNP at the last referendum for independence promised this was once in a generation – therefore no mandate.

Although the majority of Scotland voted to stay as part of the UK in the EU this fact is ignored by Nicola Sturgeon. She is now no longer talking about being a part of the EU but only the single market. This does not reflect the voting wishes of the people of Scotland – therefore no mandate.

Why can’t she leave independence on the back burner and start doing what is best for Scotland – governing it and doing the “Day Job” that she was elected to do.

Ursula Craig

via email

I HAD to chuckle when I heard Prime Minister Theresa May and Ruth Davidson talk about the economic division and uncertainty caused by another independence referendum.

These are the same individuals now dragooning Scotland out of the EU, against its will, leading to exactly that.

In the run-up to the last independence referendum we were told that Scotland should be leading, not leaving the UK, that the UK was a union of equals.

When Ms May came to Scotland and met with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in July last year she commented that negotiations with the EU over Brexit would not start until there was an agreed UK position involving the devolved administrations.

Fast forward nine months and a hard Brexit is to be pursued, with no agreed UK position and the diminished prospects of a Brexit dividend in the shape of more powers for the Scottish Parliament.

So much for Scotland leading the UK and this being a partnership of equals.

The next independence referendum however must be much bigger than simply the EU question.

There is a clear democratic deficit, with a UK government with one Tory MP in Scotland doing what it wants, whatever the wishes of the Scottish people.

With Labour in disarray this scenario is not likely to change for some time.

Ultimately, however, what the Brexit vote highlights is the more fundamental issue of who we want to make decisions for us and what sort of country we want to live in.

We have the chance now to take control of our own destiny, a golden opportunity. Let’s have the confidence to grab it with both hands.

Alex Orr,

via email

I’M writing to encourage your readers to join thousands across Scotland and be part of the world’s biggest environmental campaign, Earth Hour, this Saturday.

WWF’s Earth Hour is a simple idea that’s become a global phenomenon, with hundreds of millions of people turning off their lights to show they want action on the threat posed to people and the natural world by climate change.

In 2016, the event spanned 178 countries with the lights going out on a thousand iconic landmarks from the Eiffel Tower to Sydney Opera House.

This year Earth Hour will take place on March 25 at 8.30pm and we’re asking local communities to sign up at wwfscotland.org.uk/earthhour and think about holding their own Earth Hour event. Visit our website to see events being held by groups across Scotland. Make your Earth Hour matter by bringing your community together to change climate change.

Lang Banks, director of WWF Scotland