Dear Ms Regan,
In your contendership for the top job and the SNP leadership you claim that independence has “nothing to do with the UK Government”. You have also elected to dismiss both the Supreme Court ruling and the Scotland Act that say the constitution is reserved to Westminster. Not content with that you decided to embarrass yourself even further by indicating, wrongly of course, that Scotland “does not have to ask permission” to leave the United Kingdom. All this just so you can ramp up your bid to take over from Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister.
From the outside it looks like you have completely lost your mind Ms Regan and turned the campaign for Scotland’s next first minister into an SNP kamikaze leadership race. Your claims that independence has “nothing to do with the UK Government” and that separation could be gained without a referendum are completely ludicrous and the most naive statements put in the press by you since Nicola Sturgeon said “Independence Transcends Brexit, Oil and the Economy”. Are you really so deluded that you believe you or anyone connected with the Holyrood Assembly can just overthrow the democratic decision of the people of Scotland or are you, like your colleagues, past and present, just so hungry to seize power that you will say and do anything and repeat what has already been said in the past? This campaign, which you, Kate Forbes and Humza Yousaf have managed to turn into a three ringed circus act, is to elect the next leader of a devolved regional assembly of the United Kingdom, it is not a U.S. Presidential or U.K. Prime Minister Election race.
Your competition in the form of Kate Forbes has already released the ludicrous headline that if you won enough seats in an election, it would be “enough for a mandate to split the union”.
This is of course complete and utter nonsense and the debate about Scotland breaking away from a union, which has existed for 315 years over which time we all in the United Kingdom have become a family which every person in the country has benefitted from, was settled by the people back in September 2014 in a referendum that YOUR party demanded or have you conveniently chosen to forget about that important fact? You are merely repeating what Nicola Sturgeon said last year, that the SNP would treat the next UK general election as a de facto referendum, but in different terminology. You should be ashamed of yourself Ms Regan and bear in mind who you actually work for and that is the people of Scotland, who pay your salary and while you are in our employment you will do as you are told. Your first order of business, should you be unfortunate enough to secure the position, will be to respect our decision from the ballet box.
Granted, Tony Blair, David Cameron and others have a lot to answer for in terms of allowing not only devolution to happen, but the untold damage the combined insidious twisted poison of the SNP and Green parties have caused to Scotland’s infrastructure, police services, transport networks, business communities, economy, education, health service, welfare of the population and the people’s trust in their northern connected MP’s, MSP’s and the devolved Holyrood assembly as a whole. You are clearly sparring for a fight with the people you “claim” to serve and angling for the hardline separatist vote, but by what right do you think you have to, again, flog the proposition of “Independence” when the people of Scotland have already settled that particular argument? A change of First Minister should be an opportunity for the current administration to change their priorities and agenda. Public services should be prioritised, however you, Kate Forbes and Humza Yousaf appear to be sticking to the status quo and putting constitutional division first. One thing that is apparent about this whole leadership power grab is that whichever one of you gets in it’s just going to be more of the same old drivel, which Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon tried to con us with before.
The majority of people living all over the United Kingdom have more claim to Scottish ancestry than the rag tag of naive fools like you, Alex Salmond, Nicola Sturgeon, Kate Forbes, Humza Yousaf and John Swinney who base your claims on warped economic projections and history twisted to suit the SNP’s singular agenda. Either start cleaning up the mess that the SNP, Alba and Green parties are responsible for making in Scotland over the past sixteen years or clear off and stop wasting our time, money, energy and resources.
Ian Drysdale