I FEEL sure sensible opinion will support the First Minister who says, 'I wish the PM well in the negotiations which lie ahead, because a good Brexit deal for the UK is in Scotland's interests'.

However, in reading the Scottish Government's paper, 'Scotland's place in Europe' I am left wondering how far that SNP goodwill will extend?

The First Minister accepts it will be for the UK and not the Scottish Government to negotiate Brexit, but that said, it seems to me that the First Minister seeks to bind the UK to variable SNP positions before the real Brexit negotiations commence.

The PM is asked to adopt and support various analysis, assumptions and options, which even the First Minister's own advisers are not wholly able to agree upon.

It is entirely possible, in my view, for the Scottish Government positions to run completely counter to that of the UK, something which could be seized upon by any of the other EU countries wishing to divide and weaken the UK approach.

What price then, should the PM put on the First Minister's encouragements?

Furthermore, Ms Sturgeon asks the Prime Minister to agree that if Brexit 'risks' to Scotland cannot be mitigated within the UK, the option of choosing a better future through Independence should be open to the people of Scotland.

The issue of Independence runs throughout the document and I am left wondering whether the SNP is simply using the whole situation to further pursue its core objective of separation and division from the rest of the UK.

ANDY WILSON,

Kelty.