The way in which the UK Government is handling the Brexit negotiations should be a worry to us all. It really is clear, however, that the SNP are more concerned about using Brexit as an opportunity to agitate for IndyRef2 than contributing constructively to the debate.

Anyone who has any doubts about this only need read Nationalist MP Tommy Sheppard’s opinion article in the Evening News (01/03/18). It appears he’s learned nothing from the defeat the SNP suffered in the 2017 snap election for using Brexit “project fear” to gain support for independence.

Mr Sheppard may well be right when he says “Brexit will, in time, be seen as possibly the greatest act of collective self-harm a country ever inflicted on itself”, but he needs to explain why he thinks independence will not be a greater folly.

The problem is that just as “euro-phobic” British Nationalists like Liam Fox and Nigel Farage want Brexit at any cost, some Scottish Nationalists want to leave the UK at any cost.

Three and a half years after the “once in a lifetime” 2014 referendum on Scottish Independence, Tommy Sheppard and his chums still won’t answer the simplest questions on currency. Likewise, they won’t explain how Scotland would deal with its deficit or gain EU membership.

Let’s be clear, they won’t answer these questions despite knowing the answers. Anyone who doubts the SNP is hiding the truth should ask themselves why not one single independent economic expert has concluded Scotland would be better off outside the UK.

So let’s unite to ensure we get a Brexit deal that protects livelihoods, but please don’t pretend that Scotland leaving the UK will be anything more than jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.