AS we career in our driverless carriage off the Brexit cliff edge, Nicola Sturgeon has bowed to the inevitable and pledged that the SNP will support a second referendum on leaving the European Union, citing the not unreasonable point that things can't really get much worse on the Brexit front ("Sturgeon shifts stance to support People's Vote", The Herald, October 8). Ms Sturgeon, a most cautious and conservative politician, has bowed to overwhelming grass roots pressure on this issue but has surely also weighed up the possible political gains her party could make by adopting this approach.

SNP support for a possible People's Vote may oblige a future Labour Government to allow a second independence referendum to become a reality, using a second EU referendum as a clear and tangible precedent. Voicing support for a second EU vote would also help the First Minister seize the moral high ground amongst Scottish Remain supporters who voted not to leave the EU by a sizeable 62 per cent.

In addition, by finally backing a second vote on EU membership, Ms Sturgeon has distanced her party and representatives from the Conservatives and the DUP, and embraced a Realpolitik tone.

The UK Government remains hopelessly divided on Brexit with the Chequers plan moribund, the Canada-plus deal a nebulous fantasy and Norway/EEA proposals too sketchy and unpopular. We are still nowhere near reaching any proposal or agreement that solves the Irish border question without destroying the integrity of the Good Friday agreement. As Glasgow University Principal, Sir Anton Muscatelli recently stated, "[Brexit is] the most unhinged act of national self-sabotage in living memory."

It would, arguably, have been more astute to play the political long game and await the disasters of leaving the EU to unfold, thereby strengthening the support for Scottish independence. However, though Ms Sturgeon has been tardy in making her decision to support a People's Vote, it is the correct decision nonetheless.

Brexit will be the harbinger of a deterioration in social and economic conditions for the majority of the British people, this is a fact the vast majority of social, political and economic experts agree on, regardless of party allegiances. Even Brexiter-in-chief Jacob Rees-Mogg admitted in an interview last month that the economy may take "around 50 years to settle down, post-Brexit".

The inhabitants of the UK deserve a more informed People's Vote that is not a vehicle for ambitious, self-serving politicians and xenophobic tub-thumping rhetoric.

Those who cling to the line that the democratic will must be fulfilled are, wilfully or otherwise, blind to the devastating consequences that Brexit will inevitably visit on the people of Britain and Northern Ireland.

Sitting on the political fence was no longer an option for the First Minister and her party over this issue. As Martin Luther King once said: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter".

Owen Kelly,

8 Dunvegan Drive, Stirling.

APPARENTLY the SNP would support a second Brexit vote. The argument for this is that not nearly enough information about the consequences of a Leave vote was provided while we were treated to lies about the benefits of leaving. Over the past 18 months we have been subject to speculative threats of dire consequences of the Brexit vote which have taken on an apocalyptic air, culminating in the forceful suggestion that we would run out of food and medicine. How could a second vote be legitimate in the face of such propaganda ?

Scotland’s trade with the EU is small and the UK’s is well below 50 per cent. After leaving, trade with the EU can continue under different terms and, as the EU’s biggest customer, the UK has bargaining power, especially with the million German cars bought each year. Those who relish the idea of a citizenry of Europe, which would be a good thing, should realise that the EU is primarily a facilitator for global capital and that developments within the EU, both economical and political, do not conform with their instincts. I refer to the EU’s treatment of Mediterranean members and the political lurch to the ugly right in many EU states.

John Inglis,

High Corrie, Arran.

HOW grateful the nation must feel now that Nicola Sturgeon is extending another opportunity to agree with her . Her support for shredding the Brexit vote threatens the authority of our governing institutions. Perhaps that’s her intention but who granted this one person such power? Certainly not the delegates attending the SNP party conference, who were merely informed of her decision to back the People's Vote. The SNP leadership could teach the Brussels elite a lesson on how to keep power for themselves.

Calum Miller,

24 Polwarth Terrace, Prestonpans, East Lothian.

PERHAPS a large proportion of Scots want another referendum on the EU in order to change their vote from Remain to Leave.

The results of the 2017 General Election would seem to imply that that would be so, because the SNP lost one-third of its seats at Westminster on a manifesto of remaining in the EU regardless while the other parties gained seats on a manifesto of leaving.

Iris Clyde,

Voresheed, Kirkwall, Orkney.

GR Weir (Letters, October 8) fails to mention that the conclusion of the Growth Report is that independence would result in an £8 billion tax hike to meet EU entry criteria. Andrew Wilson also points out that it will result in decades of austerity.

In addition, the policy to replace 150 TWhours of gas (4p per unit ) with electricity (16p per unit ) comes with an £18 billion price tag following the demise of the UK grid. Does that mean that, for the 35 per cent of Scots living in fuel poverty, independence will mean eons of financial penury?

Ian Moir,

79 Queen Street, Castle Douglas.

THE SNP conference must qualify as the most boring party conference on Planet Earth. Obedient, blindly unquestioning, nodding donkey adherents, merely waiting for the next announcement descending from the leadership above. No controversial subjects dare be raised. Every leadership decision is merely rubber-stamped. No maverick views of any kind allowed. The SNP conference is the greatest treatment for insomnia ever devised.

The old Soviet Politburo would envy the SNP’s power over its masses.

Alexander McKay.

8/7 New Cut Rigg, Edinburgh.