I HAVE just listened to five excellent speeches by the five party leaders at the start of the independence debate. Unfortunately the contents of the speeches have left me more puzzled than informed. I’m also in despair at the manipulation of figures to prove a particular agenda and the proposals for a vote engineered to suit an agenda.

Much was said about “the will of the people” but depending on what politician was using the phrase depended very much on their own interpretation and agenda.

We have the will of the people in 2014 where two million people voted No. The percentages here were 55/45 which on one side was decisive and on the other was fairly narrow in a vote where 85 per cent of the electorate voted.

Along came the 2016 referendum where 1.6 million people voted to remain in the UK. These people were 62 per cent of the vote in a much smaller turnout. It appears that this 62 per cent is much more decisive than 55 per cent irrespective of being 400,000 less.

It also appears that the trading figures involved cause a bit of dismay. I don’t know why it is more important to be in the EU which takes £16 billion worth of Scottish goods rather in a UK which takes £54bn of our goods. I cannot imagine a situation where Scotland could have the best of both worlds by being in the EU but retaining a different trading agreement with rUK.

We then have a blatant manoeuvre by Patrick Harvie to rig the vote by suggesting that EU citizens should be allowed to vote in the proposed referendum. Why EU citizens? By the time of the referendum they will be no different from American, Australian or Chinese citizens, so why should they be given a vote? We also have the Green Party insisting that once again 16-18 year olds have a vote – the same 16-18-year-olds whom the SNP reckon need a Named Person to advise and counsel.

The campaign has a long way to go, but how much trust can we put in our politicians?

Duncan McDougall,

61 Churchill Drive, Bridge of Allan.

THIS letter is written in advance of the debate regarding the referendum on the independence of Scotland, and I predict that the principal attack by the Conservatives will be that the Government should “forget about independence” and “get on with their day job”. One other thing is predictable, that the Conservatives do not ever neglect their day job, which is constantly to denigrate Scotland, our Scottish Government and in particular the First Minister and as many of her ministers as possible.

At the last Holyrood election the SNP was given a clear and precise mandate to pursue a referendum under certain well-defined conditions, which have subsequently been enacted. It is worth noting that the Conservatives give that no importance, a clear example of the brick wall of intransigence built by the Prime Minister as an encouragement to her Scottish branch office.

John Hamilton,

G/2, 1 Jackson Place, Bearsden.

THE Scottish Greens’ revised position as a supporter of the latest SNP referendum proposal is shameless political opportunism. I was flabbergasted to hear on BBC television on Patrick Harvie’s justification for this course of action where he stated the Greens’ eection manifesto had been changed at the Scottish Greens October 2016 conference meeting as a consequence of Brexit and was therefore entirely legitimate.

This Perth conference was only attended by about 450 Green members who duly voted for the change. This is not my idea of democracy when a small cabal of individuals can make such a major change. Even if the full membership of the Scottish Greens had voted they only total about 9,000 members. This is clearly not the will of the Scottish people.

The six Green MSPs were specifically elected by 150,426 preference votes cast on the basis of their published manifesto. I believe they should vote according to their manifesto promise. The key element was “it should come about by the will of the people, and not be driven by calculations of party political advantage”. No “get out” clauses had been added.

There is currently no overall majority in support of a referendum. The Greens are clearly considering their own political advantage and that of the SNP. They are duty-bound to vote against the proposed referendum. Any other course of action is completely without justification or honour. It is quite simply a broken promise.

David Philip,

Knockhall Way, Newburgh.