THE Independent Group are hoping that shortly their number will increase as they properly form themselves into a political party. Once they have passed the 35 MP threshold they hope to become the third party at Westminster and get the benefits of that position which currently go to the SNP. Their hope, and that of their British nationalist colleagues, is to eradicate the SNP from Westminster.

Meanwhile the autocratic Theresa May is using obscure powers to make laws without asking Parliament because she knows best. Following Brexit, I fully expect her to find a reason to abolish the Scottish Parliament. She will then decide that it is in the interest of her precious Union to make an even more radical change to Scottish life. Why do we in the 21st century need a separate legal system for Scotland? Since we are one country we should be governed by one law – that of England.

Robert Mitchell
Stirling

READ MORE: Rebel Labour MPs 'wanted Ruth Davidson to lead new centrist party'​

AS the Labour party starts to fragment over its ineffectual leadership, it is quite likely that the Tory “government” will start to do likewise. (As if they were not already divided). So we have a British government unfit to govern and a British opposition party unfit to oppose. In contrast to the UK, the Scottish Government carries on with business. However, I fear events may be starting to over take us in the pro-independence movement here in Scotland.

We must not let the dust settle on the Brexit fiasco. I fear the moment will have passed. We must take full advantage of the political winds. It can do no good to wait to see how bad a bad thing can get!

I strongly urge Nicola Sturgeon to act NOW and start the campaign for dissolving this so-called UK. TIME IS RUNNING OUT.

Jim Thomson
Crieff

READ MORE: Scottish Labour join Tories in attacking FM's trips to promote Scotland​

THE upcoming departure of Honda from these shores warns us – yet again – not to invest in or be reliant upon the fickle offshoots of foreign companies, but to use the money we lavish on them to develop our own skills and products.

Scotland had a similar experience with US offshoots – mainly in the electronics industry – but also with the motor industry at Linwood.

An independent Scotland should not fall for the unreliable promises of incomers, but should finance and develop the native skills and enterprise that in the past helped to shape the world.

Malcolm Parkin
Kinross

READ MORE: Theresa May and ministers hold more EU talks ... as car firm leaves UK​

HONDA leaving the UK was inevitable. The chief executives of Japanese automotive companies, along with their ambassador to the UK, visited 10 Downing Street to warn the government of the consequences of leaving the EU without a deal. In the meantime, observing the shambles of the UK Parliament, Japan has stepped up its negotiations to achieve a free-trade treaty bypassing the UK. Now that this has been achieved, other Japanese companies based in the UK will surely follow Honda now that the promises made to attract them to the UK in the first place have been ignored (just as promises to Scotland in 2014 have been ignored). The cost of transporting products from Japan is insignificant in the overall price.

It is very sad that the people who have suffered most from the Tory austerity policy have been fed lies to convince them that leaving the EU will solve all their problems, when in reality they are likely to get worse.

People who have been damaged by the austerity policy should be asking why the government plans to spend £300 billion pounds on 100 miles of railway and renewing nuclear missiles and not on eliminating their reliance on food banks.

Mike Underwood
Linlithgow

SO Gavin Williamson has laid out the blueprints of an untethered Greater Britain, free from the restraints of the European Union? With its imaginary Royal Navy aircraft carrier groups, sailing the seven seas in search of swashbuckling adventure...

I say to Mr Williams, the inconvenient reality is that when dealing with China and its expansion in the South China Seas, he should be mindful that President Obama once sent 19 US Navy vessels to the region as a “show of force”. China responded by deploying a further 42 ships. The Chinese have plenty more.

When rattling one’s sabre, best to check that what you’re actually waving isn’t indeed a Swiss Army knife...

Sandy Allan
Newburgh Ellon

READ MORE: No China talks after defence secretary's 'idiotic' speech​

JAMES Duncan (Letters, February 19) disagrees with Geoff Moore’s claim that wind turbines kill hundreds of bats and birds by saying that there is no evidence of birds carcases lying around.

They may not be lying round for long as wind turbine operators employ people to remove the carcases – one developer in Scotland actually placed a job advert for such a clean-up employee!

If he wishes to see the evidence, I suggest that he types “birds and bats killed by wind turbines” into a Google search engine and he will see plenty of evidence to justify Mr Moore’s claim.

Some wind turbine sites in the USA and Spain are responsible for the deaths of thousands of birds, including golden eagles and other raptors.

GM Lindsay
Kinross

READ MORE: Where is the proof of birds and bats being killed by turbines?​

JAMES Duncan asks me for evidence of bird and bat deaths due to wind turbines. In 2016 Exeter University published a study suggesting that 80,000 bats annually are killed by UK turbines. The total is likely to be higher because scavengers remove some of the bodies. The UK has 3.9% of the world’s turbines, so that extrapolates to two million bats killed globally. A Stanford 2016 study suggests 4.1 birds per MW are killed by US turbines. So that’s 359,000 in the US, extrapolating to 2.1 million globally. Mr Duncan should watch the YouTube video “Vulture gets hit by wind turbine”.

Geoff Moore
Alness, Highland