A Scottish thistle in May’s plans

Sir, – I refer to your Editorial (March 15th) taking Theresa May to task for her inflexibility over the Brexit negotiations which you say justifies Nicola Sturgeon’s decision to call for an independence referendum in Scotland.

I would argue Ms May is quite right to keep her powder dry at these early stages of the Brexit negotiations, and not be distracted by Ms Sturgeon’s political opportunism.

We should not forget Ms May is keen to retain Scotland in the United Kingdom.

We should also not forget the nonsense in the Scottish National Party’s (SNP) 649-page tome entitled “Scotland’s Future” which it published before the last referendum.

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Two critical examples of its weak forecasting were, first, the dependence on rising North Sea oil revenues, and second, retaining sterling as its currency which would make Scotland totally dependent on the interest rates set by the Bank of England.

That’s not independence, as we here in Ireland know only too well when the troika comes calling. Real sovereignty comes with a price. – Yours, etc,

MIKE CORMACK,

Blackrock,

Co Dublin.