As an Englishman living in Scotland, I was shocked by Conservative candidate Ryan Henson’s comments about England being “better off without Scotland” (Report, theguardian.com, 4 August). As a prospective parliamentarian, is he aware that his party’s official name is the Conservative and Unionist party? Unfortunately, both sides of the independence debate appear afflicted by the same shortsightedness; not so long ago both UK and Scottish parliaments were dominated by a centrist Labour party. Nowadays, Tories complain about “socialist” SNP policies while the SNP decry the “austere” Tories, as if these conditions have been around forever.
Nevertheless, it has always been the SNP’s stated mantra to break away – the Conservatives purportedly stand for union. They should be doing all they can to communicate pride in our artistic, intellectual and commercial links and to articulate their vision for a shared future. They had a chance to do this with a charismatic leader in Scotland and an upturn in fortunes in the last general election. With Boris Johnson and his pals in power, the moment may have gone.
Robert Cadbury
Aberdeen
• Nicola Sturgeon claims she wants English people to move to Scotland (G2, 6 August). Yet presumably she only wants the right type of English voter north of the border? It’s widely believed the majority of Scotland’s 400,000-plus English-born residents voted against independence in 2014.
Yes, Ms Sturgeon is correct in saying Scotland is short of people and even shorter of taxpayers. But does she genuinely want more English in Scotland who may well vote against her teenage independence dream?
Ms Sturgeon is wise to do all she can to quash any possible accusations of SNP anti-English sentiment. If she genuinely wants to proffer an olive branch to the English, she should end her policy of charging zero university tuition fees to every student in Europe except those from elsewhere in the UK.
Martin Redfern
Edinburgh
• Nicola Sturgeon is being disingenuous when she talks of the electorate in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum as being highly informed . Yes, we were engaged, but none of my (well-educated, politically aware) friends in favour of independence seemed able to give logical or factual reasons as to why it should happen, other than “if we don’t do it now, we never will”.
Questions about the currency, passports, border controls were met with blank stares. There may have been an 800-page prospectus, but it didn’t translate for the person in the street. Oh yes, now I remember, there was that bit about using the huge oil revenues…
Sally Cheseldine
Edinburgh
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