THE Scottish Government has yet to publish the results of the Draft Referendum Bill consultation (“Sturgeon is told: reveal findings of referendum consultation”, The Herald, April 17). Nicola Sturgeon has actually already given the game away as regards the results of this consultation.

In her previous statements she always referred to the "will of the Scottish people" as regards the desire for another independence referendum. This phrase was then dropped and changed to the "will of the Scottish Parliament" following her victory in Holyrood only courtesy of the Greens backing up her position. This rather suggests the "will of the Scottish people" is somewhat different to that of both the SNP and the Greens.

Ms Sturgeon, herself, looked rather less than happy when the section 30 vote was passed. Was this because she knows Holyrood is out of touch with the electorate? We will soon know. If the popular sentiment is very much against another referendum then this will be borne out, rightly or wrongly, by the votes in the May local election. The SNP's current attempts to denigrate Ruth Davidson have therefore be seen as a somewhat more basic political ploy.

Dr Gerald Edwards,

Broom Road, Glasgow.

SINCE last June’s EU referendum result, Nicola Sturgeon has been doing everything she can to engineer an independence referendum rerun, whilst equally determinedly ignoring that the majority of people seem to prefer not to have one. This reluctance to admit what the people of Scotland really want might well be behind the continuing delay in releasing the results of the much-heralded Scottish Government consultation on a second referendum, held between October and January.

The structure of that consultation avoided all the sensitive issues, such as the wording of a question, the majority required to action the result, and indeed whether it was right to even contemplate a second independence referendum just three years after the last one. Instead, it asked for views on relatively minor technical matters. Perhaps some of the 7,500 people who replied decided to go too far off script for the First Minister’s liking. As much as the SNP wants to orchestrate events to suit itself, the people of Scotland have an inconvenient habit of thinking for themselves.

Keith Howell,

White Moss, West Linton, Peeblesshire.

SO the SNP is being urged to release the results of consultation started last October on a Draft Referendum Bill. Its findings will be six months out of date but, irrespective of that, we need to ask whether issuing 34 consultations in six months is the purpose of government?

We elect our governments at both national and local level to govern us in accordance with their published policies and their manifestos, not to carry out endless consultations that are only advisory. Who, apart from a consultation anorak or someone alerted by a pressure group, has the time or inclination to scour government websites? A letter to The Herald, if published, gets more publicity and is far cheaper.

It should be no surprise that the SNP wants to gain independence via a referendum so let's just get over it and concentrate on electing local councils next month who will strive to improve our communities.

Patricia Fort,

15 Lanark Street, Glasgow.

KEVIN McKenna opens his hard-hitting column ("Some home truths on Ruth and the still toxic Tory party", The Herald, April 15) with the observation that in Scotland we are forever caught in the braided memories of ancient myths and that it has never been unfashionable to create new ones, and true enough some immediately come to mind: Alex Salmond knew what he was talking about in 2014 on currency for an independent Scotland, leading Brexiters had a coherent post-Brexit plan, and Lloyd George knew my father.

R Russell Smith,

96 Milton Road, Kilbirnie.

UNIONIST commentators like to cast doubt on forecasts of an oil price of $100 per barrel in the near future, and pour scorn on the potential benefit of oil to an independent Scotland. Correct me if I'm mistaken, but isn't 100 per cent of revenue from oil at $50 per barrel a better proposition than eight per cent at $100?

Moreover, Alyn Smith MEP informed me in 2014 that under EU rules the 6,000 square miles of Scottish waters, including seven major oilfields, generously donated to England by Tony Blair in 1988 – an act for years shrouded in secrecy – automatically revert to Scotland on independence.

James Stevenson,

Drummond Avenue, Auchterarder.