SIR, Sandy Aitchison in the Border Telegraph of September 10 asks: Who will pay for Independence? The short answer is it will cost all Scots dearly if we do not vote to take control of our own destiny today.

The panic reaction of Messrs. Clegg, Cameron and Miliband paying a flying visit to this nation to pretend we may get more power takes us all back to 1979 when Tory promises were reneged upon. If they are so concerned now why did they refuse to allow “Devo Max” to go on the ballot paper?

Sandy talks about an island nation, and even talks about the United Kingdom as a great nation, obviously confusing the nation of Scotland with the collection of nations etc. known as Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

I am immensely proud of the fact we care for Scotland’s sick, lame, young and elderly through free prescriptions, university education, bus passes and child care to mention a few, all of which will probably disappear in due course if the naysayers win the day.

We would continue to get governments we did not vote for, nuclear weapons would remain on the Clyde, we would remain saddled with the bedroom tax, a Tory/UKIP government would almost certainly drag us out of Europe, and the funding system for the Scottish Government would be altered for the worse if not scrapped. Overseas aid in a free Scotland will continue at or about the same level of GDP as at present, as agreed internationally.

Scotland is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and with Independence that wealth can work positively for us all. Pensions will be paid just as now. A UK passport can be kept until it is time to change it.

If Sandy wishes to live with food banks, poverty amidst plenty, the huge costs of replacing Trident and nuclear power stations, an NHS being destroyed though privatisation, and the bedroom tax that is of course his prerogative, I for one will be voting “Yes” for a brighter future for Scotland.

The “no” campaign has been relentlessly negative from start to finish but at least it has been entirely consistent in that negativity!

I am, etc.

John G. Mitchell Hillside Terrace Selkirk