MY father was Scottish, my mother was English.

I am from a British family, so why have I not been given a say in the possible dismemberment of my own country?

A close neighbour of mine in Durham is a Scotsman. “Why,” he says “have I not been allowed to vote in a referendum about the future of my country?”

Tony Arthur, Durham.

WITH a third of Britain’s land and only 8.2 per cent of its population Scotland compares favourably with any country in the world on a stand-alone basis.

Scotland would have selfsufficiency in natural gas and an enormous surplus of oil for export. They are aiming for complete self sufficiency in green electricity by 2025 (hydro, wind, biomass and tidal) with spare electricity to sell to us via the National Grid at a cheap price while they still have nuclear power.

They have a surplus of commercial timber, and if you think timber is unimportant, look around your home. Other exportable products include meat, cereals, fruit, dairy produce (25 per cent of Britain’s total) and 65 per cent of our fish and shellfish are landed at Scottish ports.

Worldwide, few countries can match the above and the only comparable country seems to be Norway.

Countries with a small population, which are selfsufficient in the basics and which have a surplus of desirable commodities, do not need to compete in the cut-throat globalisation battle in competition with the large industrial nations.

Two small countries, Norway and Switzerland, rejected EU membership as they felt they did not want outside control. They both have a higher standard of living than most other EU members. The EU isn’t everything.

Britain can only remain in the front rank if it retains the resources of its richest province.

Let’s all hope for a No vote.

Dave Hodgson, Richmond.

AT present, Scottish MPs sit in the British Houses of Parliament and can vote on English affairs.

If Scotland becomes independent, with its own MPs in a Scottish parliament, I presume that this will be prevented.

If this does occur, the Labour party would lose many vital votes.

This would put the party in jeopardy.

Now, I know why Ed Miliband is defending the No vote.

AE Carr, Middleton St George.

I REFER to Edwin Whittington’s letter about the Queen (HAS, Sept 17).

The Queen remarked that she hoped the people of Scotland would “think very carefully” ahead of the independence referendum. To my mind this is very wise advice, and it in no gives any recommendation regarding which way one should vote. The Queen remains impartial in political matters. However, we are unable to say that she has never uttered “a word about the poor people of this country” – we do not know what concerns she expresses to her respective Prime Ministers in their weekly private and confidential audiences.

Furthermore, the state cannot “take Balmoral Castle off her” – it is privately owned, not state owned.

Finally, it should be remembered that she is half Scottish – her mother was a Scot, and the Queen’s grandfather was Earl of Strathmore of Glamis Castle.

Mary Everitt, Darlington.

I WAS slightly bemused to read Edwin Whittington’s remarks about our Queen especially when he wrote that “she isn’t even English or Scottish, she is German”.

This is incorrect. Her Majesty was born in Mayfair, on April 21, in 1926. Her Father, King George VI, was born in Sandringham House, in Norfolk, and her Mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, was also born in England.

Mayfair is in the City of Westminster, thus proving that our Queen is indeed English.

Christopher Wardell, Darlington.

THE Coalition refused the SNP’s request to include devo-max as one of the three options in the Scottish Referendum. They thought that the No campaign would win at a canter.

Over the months they sat back and basked in the 20 per cent lead in the opinion polls and occasionally sent out a threat, such as “You can’t keep the pound”, and “You will not automatically be a member of the EU”.

Suddenly the gap closed dramatically and, in a couple of recent opinion polls, the Yes campaign were in front.

This resulted in the three old Westminster parties sending their “big guns” to Scotland, promising most, if not all of the things the SNP were asking for in devo-max.

The party leaders have done this without any mandate from the members of the House of Commons, but have promised Scotland more powers and more money in what seems to be complete panic.

How will this affect the residents of England?

We already have the unacceptable situation whereby MPs from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own parliament and are allowed to make their own laws, yet they are still allowed to have a vote in the House of Commons.

Given all the promises made to Scotland, will this failing Government and the inept Opposition finally have the nerve to grasp this issue and restrict these other MPs from voting on English only matters?

Ukip is calling for “English only” days in Westminster. If there were a referendum on this proposal, I believe it would receive overwhelming support.

Ted Strike, Stockton

AT the time of the establishment of Scotland’s assembly Jeremy Thorpe warned me ‘to give them an assembly without tax raising powers is asking for trouble’.

So who is to blame for the present problems?

Peter Freitag, chairman Darlington LibDems.

THE leaders of the three main Westminster parties have promised to retain the Barnett Formula which gives the Scots extra money per head of population on all UK government spending. Until we in the North- East and Yorkshire get our own Barnett Formula, we will continue to lag behind the rest in economic development, education, health and welfare.

Chris Foote-Wood, Darlington.

I HAVE always been proud to be British and I am concerned that whichever way the Scottish independence vote goes, that Scotland will be a divided nation.

Ben Ord, Spennymoor.