I NOTE Ian McConnell's column in which he reports data for the UK economy (“Conference success as woes make international outlook crucial”, Herald Business, August 11). Though granted it is a snapshot for June only, there are two striking things that leap from this: a) the oil industry appears to be the only section of the UK economy that is doing well, but perhaps more importantly, b) our exports and balance of payments figures are appalling.

I use the word appalling, because to listen to everyone connected with the Cabinet, Brexit negotiations and the Leave campaign, our exports should greatly benefit from the dramatic fall in the exchange rate. It is startling that Mr McConnell's report suggests even trade with our non-EU trading nations is worse than with our European neighbours. Even allowing for a period of delay (a lag) after sterling's fall, we should, by now, be seeing a trading advantage. But of course, although the fall in the value of the pound makes our goods for export cheaper, all our imports are much more expensive, and since we have no real natural resources to speak of, much of what we export in finished goods has to be produced from imported raw materials and this negates the benefit of the pound. Indeed it appears that the only “real” impact from the falling currency has been to make our groceries more expensive. Our trading competitors are reporting figures showing robust growth, but UK figures, flat for June, are in real danger of going into recession. I wonder what can Brexit do for our economy if that happens?

Francis Deigman,

12 Broomlands Way, Erskine

WITH Ruth Davidson being put firmly “back in her box” over immigration by the Prime Minister’s number two, Damian Green, this neatly puts well and truly to bed the claim that the Scottish Conservative leader has some influence within the portals of power in London (“Green says transfer of powers ‘on day one’ will crush SNP challenge”, The Herald, August 11).

Ms Davidson is right in her call for a debate over the UK Government’s ridiculous target to reduce net migration to less than 100,000. While the amount of pensioners in Scotland is expected to rise by 28 per cent over the next 25 years, worker numbers are only increasing by one per cent. We therefore face an ageing population, but only marginal growth in the working age population, yet all that seems to concern the Tories is achieving a bizarre arbitrary migration target that was set in 2010.

In the run-up to the EU referendum senior figures in the Leave campaign, such as Michael Gove, promised increased powers over immigration would come to Scotland, with the introduction of a points-based system, should the UK vote to leave the EU. These pledges, like many others that were made in that campaign, have been predictably quickly forgotten.

Scotland desperately needs an immigration system that caters to the challenges we as a nation face, and while Ms Davidson may be calling for such a debate, absolutely no one within her own party is listening.

Alex Orr,

Flat 2, 77 Leamington Terrace, Edinburgh.

VARIOUS correspondents appear convinced a second independence referendum will happen before the next Holyrood elections in 2021 (Letters, August 12). Their rationale seems based on a conviction that the UK Government will deliver a form of Brexit that does not satisfy Scotland.

It is easy to see why those favouring independence might draw comfort from such analysis, but it depends on an assumption that the majority accept the SNP’s rather transparent attempts to portray its proposals on Brexit as “compromises”. Instead, many view them as little more than undeliverable demands intended primarily to fuel grievance with the UK.

Recent polling suggests a clear majority of both Remain and Leave voters accept that Brexit will require leaving the single market as we depart the EU. Equally, while the SNP has tried to portray those in Scotland who voted Remain as somehow supporting the SNP’s stance, the 2017 General Election reflected a momentum moving in the opposite direction.

With no evidence of a majority wanting another independence vote, there is no incentive to the UK Government to change its opposition to a second vote. In any case, enthusiasts for independence might find that their own leader becomes the fundamental obstacle to another vote. With no surge of support for independence despite all the attempts to create and exaggerate differences over Brexit, Nicola Sturgeon might well make the right noises to keep her core supporters happy, but stop short of triggering a vote she cannot afford to lose.

Keith Howell,

White Moss, West Linton, Peeblesshire.

KEVIN McKenna declares that Nicola Sturgeon needs to do much more than "fine-tune" her party's policies, but it was on her party's policies that the electorate elected her and re-elected her government, and it is on how she intends to take these policies forward to meet the ever-changing and challenging situations in the future that she deserves to be judged, not on gossip and tittle-tattle (“Sturgeon must do much more than fine-tune party’s policies”, The Herald, August 12). And it is not the SNP which has "allowed Ruth Davidson to take centre stage"; in spite of her negative General Election campaign Ms Davidson was carried on to the stage on the shoulders of the Unionist-based media and as Mr McKenna points out, she "has chosen to believe all the fawning headlines". It must have come as a shock to Ms Davidson to realise that her opinions are not welcomed by Conservatives at Westminster, who see her only as a mouthpiece to criticise the SNP.

Mr McKenna's accusation that the SNP has decided "to settle for ministerial cars in a devolved arrangement" rather than independence is frankly absurd, as Mr McKenna and everyone else knows that independence is the SNP's raison d'etre. His jibe adds nothing to his article or to the debate.

Ruth Marr,

99 Grampian Road, Stirling.

REGARDING Marianne Taylor's article on Jacob Rees-Mogg as a potential Tory leader (“Why I’m backing Jacob Rees-Mogg as new Tory leader”, The Herald, August 14), can I suggest a date for his inauguration? April 1, 2018.

Sam Craig,

12 Westside Gardens, 4 Partickhill Road, Glasgow.