Population Control

Copy of a letter I sent to the Scotsman today:

"Paul Henderson Scott (Opinion, 10 September) argues that Scotland has
9% of the UK's population. This means its MPs can be overruled in
Westminster and is taken as an indicator of the unsuitability of the
Union for Scotland. It seems a reasonable point to make, until you
explore that logic a bit further.

There are only 15 MSPs from the Highlands out of a total of 129, meaning with Scott's logic the Highlands get a raw deal in terms of political representation. We
all know the difference in culture, history and traditions between
Highland and Lowland. However, I see no political movement in the
Highlands using these differences as evidence that the Highlands be
independent from Scotland, and the UK. Sounds silly doesn't it?

Moving this logic in the other direction, the SNP plan for an
independent Scotland involves continuing its membership of the EU. Yet
Scotland only makes up 1.03% of the EU population. This somewhat
undermines Scott's argument that that is it unfair for Scotland to
belong to a political institution to which it contributes only 9% of
the population of that institution. On top of this, 75% of UK laws
come from the EU. An independent Scotland wouldn't have the ability to
steer the EU as Britain does, and would be much more at the mercy of
the whims of Brussels bureaucrats. Indeed, many of Scott's criticisms
of "external control", "the English" and their influence on Scotland
could seamlessly be applied to the EU. Yet the SNP are more than
willing to continue the European arrangement in their hazy view of a
post-independence Scotland. As we can see, the logic falls apart."