Sir, – Whether Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn grants a Section 30 order allowing a second referendum during the first term of a Labour government – or only after it has ended, or at some other time, or not at all – it is clear his priority is bringing the country back together and dealing with Brexit.
Labour has said they will negotiate a new best possible Leave deal with the EU and then within six months put that to the country in a second referendum, against staying as we are, the Remain option.
This Brexit referendum will happen before any referendum in Scotland.
And if Remain wins, and the chances of that happening must be pretty high, that would cut the legs out from under the SNP.
Scotland would not have been taken out of the EU against its will and the reason for holding Indyref2 would have disappeared.
Whether there is any confusion or not, Jeremy Corbyn is opposed to independence.
The Conservatives are endangering the union by pushing for a border down the Irish sea and giving Northern Ireland advantages – such as single market access – which are to be denied to Scotland.
For those opposed to Nicola Sturgeon’s plan for two referendums staged in Scotland next year, Labour’s plan is a clear way to avoid this.
Phil Tate.
95 Craiglockhart Road,
Edinburgh.
Please remove the blinkers
Sir, – Bryan Auchterlonie’s letter (Tories ‘ignoring’ Scotland’s voice) left me wondering how observant he actually is when seeing what happens in this beloved country of ours.
His typical diatribe against the Tories comes as no surprise, however, he must acknowledge that everything is not Westminster’s fault.
The failing education system, police service, fire service, NHS are just a few failures that are the responsibility of Holyrood and not Westminster.
As for “ignoring” Scotland’s voice, I feel he must also look to his beloved SNP, who have consistently and constantly ignored Scotland’s voice by banging on and on about independence.
Remember this “once in a generation” referendum, the people of Scotland voted to reject?
Or perhaps this is the fault of the Tories, or worse still the evil Westminster?
Time for Mr Auchterlonie to remove his blinkers and see the whole picture, but then he might see something he can’t blame the Tories or Westminster for.
Brian A Falconer.
30 Market Court,
Perth.
Judge them on their record
Sir, – The barrage of election promises from the Westminster parties has started in the time honoured fashion.
Each promise is bigger and more fantastic than the opposition.
I have a simple way of deciding what is likely to be pure fantasy and what might actually happen.
I ignore most of what the Westminster politicians say and think about what they’ve done.
For instance the Conservative Party are promising to invest massively in the NHS.
For almost 10 years they have been responsible for the NHS in England and reports this week show its performance at its worst level on record.
Why should anyone believe the Conservative Party will do something they haven’t done in the last 10 years?
When I think about what the Labour Party has done for the NHS I think of Ninewells and the fact the hospital has to spend millions each year repaying the disgraceful PFI debt.
This is money that should be invested in healthcare and not the bank accounts of private individuals.
Then there is the fact the Labour Party is making a hash of running the NHS in Wales.
Bearing in mind we’ve lived through decades of mismanagement from Westminster it baffles me why some believe we cannot do a better job of running our country ourselves.
Harry Key.
20 Mid Street,
Largoward.
Greens have not given up on Fife
Sir, – Political editor Paul Malik ( Courier, November 13) asks whether the Scottish Greens want a better, cleaner planet or Scottish independence.
I’m proud to say we are strongly campaigning for both and there is no contradiction to this.
Contrary to his claim, Fife Greens are standing aside. We are fielding candidates in our two largest constituencies, in Dunfermline and West Fife and Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.
We have teams hitting the doors to talk to voters about the radical action we need to take on climate change, and our plan for making Fife a fairer, greener, more peaceful place to live.
On Mossmorran, we’re calling for an urgent plan to either get the plant to net-zero emissions, or begin decommissioning work, while for Rosyth we want to urgently remove the rusting nuclear submarines in the dockyard, end the reliance on contracts for warships, and use the yard to build Scotland’s future zero-carbon ferry fleet.
Mags Hall and Scott Rutherford.
Scottish Green Party candidates for Dunfermline and West Fife and Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.
Severe climate consequences
Sir, – Dr Charles Wardrop seems stuck in the second stage of climate change denial (Multiplicity of climate change factors, Courier, November 16).
Deny we are the cause. This is not the subject of scientific debate.
To quote from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s most recent review of the science, “warming of the climate system is unequivocal”, “human influence on the climate system is clear”, and humans “are extremely likely to have been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th Century.”
Even the fossil fuel companies’ own scientists said back in the 1980s their emissions would be the cause of climate change.
When Dr Wardrop suggests: “There is no proven remedy for climate-based problems”, the response has to be, yes there is.
We start by stopping putting more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
He also says decarbonisation cannot work unless adopted worldwide.
It has been, that is what the Paris Agreement in 2015 was.
The follow-up to that, a year from now, actually happens in Glasgow.
That is when the “ratchet mechanism” in the Paris Agreement requires all countries to enhance their level of ambition.
As is now clear to most people, the consequences of not taking rapid action are going to be severe.
Gordon Pay.
Eden Park,
Cupar.
Never complain, never explain
Sir, – The pithy little maxim “Never complain, never explain”, coined by Benjamin Disraeli, has a timeless wisdom and has been a guiding mantra for the royal family and our more intelligent public figures.
If one is in a position of great unearned wealth and privilege, as are the royals, making a complaint will accomplish nothing so common sense would appear to dictate that one should remain silent.
And as Prince Andrew will discover – as Prince Charles and Prince Harry already have – people in his position should never explain: his friends don’t require it and the rest won’t believe him anyway.
Rev Dr John Cameron.
10 Howard Place,
St Andrews.
