THERE seem to me two fundamental points that your Nationalist correspondents miss completely in the GERS discussion in your pages (Letters, August 25 & 26). The first is that if you provide universal services in a country with uneven population then some areas of the country will run a deficit and some a surplus. Scotland is roughly half the size of England with roughly one-tenth of the population. It is therefore inconceivable that (assuming similar economic performance) it should not run a worse fiscal deficit than the rest of the country. The second issue is the curious treatment by your correspondents of the fiscal benefits of North Sea oil as opposed to the City of London. One, when taken into the UK Treasury (which by the way the Scots have had the chance to reject at some 10 General Elections since North Sea oil was known about) is treated as an act of theft. The other, a world supercity, whose huge tax revenues and base subsidise much of the rest of the UK, is seen as the Great Satan for its largesse. London as far as I know is not seeking independence to hoard its gains to itself.

A separate Scotland would face the unavoidable issues of geography and population with regard to services, without the cushioning and redistributive effects of London. It would seem an unusual act that, just as one great natural resource falls of a cliff, to reject the bounty of another.

My final point is that hoary old chestnut of Scottish oil revenue. How was Scotland paid for prior to Barnett? It was paid for by the Goschen formula named after Sir George Goschen, indicating its age. That formula was replaced by Barnett simply because it was too generous to Scotland as opposed to the rest of the UK, even without a single drop of oil being found.

That continuous pump of UK expenditure at a high level is one of the reasons why Scotland has recovered steadily from massive post-war de-industrialisation into one of the most prosperous parts of the UK outside London. I simply offer these few simple truths to your more moderate readers in the knowledge that many of your correspondents seem locked in a self-reinforcing world beyond reach by reason.

Hugh Andrew,

Managing Director, Birlinn Ltd,

West Newington House, 10 Newington Road, Edinburgh.

IN the last few days your news and letters pages have been full of correspondence on the GERS figures and the £15bn “black hole” they reveal in Scottish finances. It is worth pointing out that, due to its position within the UK, Scotland does not currently have a £15bn black hole in its finances. But it would have if we were “independent”.

Alex Gallagher,

Labour councillor, North Ayrshire Council,

12 Phillips Avenue, Largs.

AS the reality of the shocking financial position in which Scotland finds itself unfolds, it is interesting to hear Derek Mackay's immediate response to the Annual Deficit of £15 billion.

The Finance Secretary does not refer to the almost £3,000 overspend for every man, woman and child in the country and what policies are to be adopted to correct this untenable position, Instead, “if Scotland were independent it would be able to make different choices and pull different economic levers to accelerate growth”.

Really? Is this seriously the best Scotland can do? And what are Mr Mackay's qualifications to be in financial charge of Scotland PLC?

Jimmy Armstrong,

Abergeldie Road, Ballater.

THE reason for Scotland’s GERS deficit (“Sturgeon admits collapse in oil price was a shock for the economy”, The Herald, August 25) is glaringly obvious: in a heavily centralised, free-market UK economy, Scotland will inevitably be a geographically peripheral region ,drained of its most ambitious, high-earning, young people who will move to London and pay their high taxes in that area. Scotland is then left with an abnormally high proportion of the deprived, the elderly and retired, all making disproportionate demands on state spending and producing little tax revenue.

Only with independence and its full fiscal levers can this UK economic model be reversed. The Republic of Ireland has no GERS-type “black hole”. Its government budget deficits averaged just 3.42 per cent of GDP, 1995-2014 (and Ireland has no oil) – a far better performance than the UK.

With full fiscal independence, the Irish have built a normal, balanced national economy. Since independence, their population has almost doubled, while Scotland’s has scarcely risen. The Republic has a higher proportion of young, ambitious, high earners, high tax-payers at home than we have in Scotland. There are some 800,000 Scots in England, but only about 400,000 Irish.

Tom Johnston,

SNP councillor, North Lanarkshire Council,

5 Burn View, Cumbernauld.