Herald letter: A (Covid) Plague On Both Their Houses.

I CANNOT have been the only one of your readers to greet the news that both sides blame each other for the failure of the all-UK Covid summit to take place (” Downing Street blames Scottish Government for cancelled Covid summit”, The Herald, May 27)with a despairing “for God’s sake”.

Devolution was meant to create better governance and accountability. Instead, in a pandemic where Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson are both responsible for thousands of unnecessary deaths, we get just more animosity and bickering.

I really hope these two clowns meet as soon as possible. They deserve each other.

Peter A Russell, Glasgow.

Herald letter: WHO STANDS UP FOR GLASGOW? (And Glasgow should not all be locked down at once if there is no need.)

WHEN Scottish local government was reorganised in the mid-1990s, it was very clear that the boundaries drawn between councils at that time were not fit for purpose.

This is even more so the case now that these are being used for public health and pandemic control purposes. For instance, as I write, the Public Health Scotland website shows that in the previous seven days there were between zero and two cases of Covid in any of the wards that make up Drumchapel, and yet their 13,000 residents are in lockdown in Level 3. Conversely, there are people who live in South Lanarkshire who live less than two miles from Glasgow Cross who will enjoy the freedoms of Level 2 while their Glasgow neighbours are under much stricter regimes.

This treatment of Glasgow residents is a double failure. First was that of the Tories in the 1990s. The second is that of the imagination and intelligence of Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish Government, who could so easily use postcodes or city wards to make better sense and create more liberty for most Glaswegians, while concentrating attention on specific areas which require special attention.

We also have to wonder just quite where Susan Aitken and Glasgow City Council are in all this. I can hardly imagine past Labour leaders like my old bosses Jean McFadden and Pat Lally being silent in these circumstances. The same applies local MSPs and MPs.

Peter A Russell, Glasgow.

Herald letter: There should be a Yes/no vote on any indy deal

IT has been clear since the outcome of the 2014 independence referendum that the SNP would neither abide by its outcome nor respect its own stated position that it was a once in a generation event.

We therefore now seem to be heading for a rerun. As we do so, we must learn the lessons of earlier referendums.

Echoing Alex Salmond’s “the dream will never die” after a 45-55 result, his Brexit counterpart Nigel Farage said on the night of the vote: “If it is 48-52 Remain, this would be unfinished business by a long way.” Subsequent events show that a narrow victory for either side just produces deeper divisions. If 55 per cent is too low for the nationalists, the first lesson we learn is that we will need a two-thirds Yes vote for independence to succeed with the full acceptance of the population – Yes and No.

The second lesson is that whatever is promised by politicians in any referendum campaign is not what will be delivered in any final deal. In the case of the 2014 indyref, for example, the Yes campaign promised us a currency union with rUK and automatic EU membership. Neither of these was deliverable unilaterally, or probably at all. The final terms of leaving the UK would have been as different to those of the White Paper as the pledges of Michael Gove and Boris Johnson were to the final Brexit terms.

The same will apply in indyref2 – for example, the issues of currency, share of debt, EU membership, borders and customs arrangements will not be in the gift of the Scottish Government. There is therefore a cast-iron case to offer voters a confirmatory vote when the outcome of new independence negotiations are concluded. My recollection is that Nicola Sturgeon campaigned vigorously for such an arrangement regarding Brexit. She should be promising the same – and safeguards against a catastrophic victory for the minority – right now.

What is she scared of?

Peter A Russell, Glasgow.