Herald letter: Independence – caveat emptor

YOUR correspondent Ian W. Thomson (letters, December 17) argues that people should agree to disagree on the issue of GERS and drop the whole subject.

In fact, we need acceptance of the account in which the SNP Scottish Government tells us the likely cost of its central purpose of independence.

After all, we would not buy a house or a car (or a copy of The Herald) without knowing the cost. Indeed, it seems that many Nationalists would devote more due diligence to buying a bag of bananas than they would to forcing secession from the UK on us.

In short, Scotland needs to know what independence would cost in terms of revenues lost from cutting ourselves off from the redistributive mechanisms of the United Kingdom: a figure which GERS tells us currently stands at over £15 billion per annum.

Then we need to be told how the shortfall would be made up: what cuts in public services we would suffer, and what tax hikes would be necessary.

Peter A. Russell, Jordanhill, Glasgow.

Herald letter: Leap In The Dark

WHY TAKE A LEAP IN THE DARK?

VARIOUS of your latest correspondents make it clear that many nationalists will never believe GERS, no matter how many times they are reminded of its provenance, methodology and status.

What these nationalist GERS-deniers need to be asked is where they have found better and more accurate (in their eyes) information about Scotland’s finances, and whether those sources also share the approval of the Scottish Government and the UK’s statistical standards authority. If they have no such information, it must be assumed that they would wish to pursue independence on the basis of no reliable data whatsoever: a complete leap into the dark based on nothing but a hunch based on zero verified information.

I think they refer to this position of blind faith as “believing in Scotland”, which sounds quite a lot like pro-Brexit rhetoric about the UK. That is working out well, isn’t it?

Peter A Russell Glasgow G13.

Herald letter: GERS.

YOUR correspondent Leah Gunn-Barret (Letters, December 7) describes GERS as “garbage in, garbage out”. In contrast, the Scottish Government and the UK Statistics Authority tell us that “the statistics have been found to meet user needs, to be methodologically sound, explained well and produced free of political interference”. Each to their own, but I know which judgment I trust.

Peter A Russell, Glasgow G13.

Herald letter: Indyref2 In Court.

IAIN Macwhirter may very well be correct that the issue of Indyref2 will end up in court (“One way or another, Indyref2 is likely to end up in court”, The Herald, December 2). When it does, it appears that the case for Holyrood holding its own referendum will be based on the contention that it would not intrude on a reserved issue.

In other words, the Scottish Government will be arguing along the lines of “yes, M’lud, our referendum will be a meaningless charade designed only to have validity in the eyes of our own gullible supporters. It will have no validity whatsoever.”

And most of Scotland will believe the same.

Peter A. Russell