Readers' Letters: Five more years of a government ignoring real concerns of Scots

And so much for his promise that if you voted for him he would “get things done”. He has already made it abundantly clear the one thing he will concentrate on doing above all else is agitate for his separatist obsession.

How depressing can it get? Another five years of a Scottish government with its eye off the ball in relation to the policies that are the clear priorities of the Scottish people, carrying on as usual with its well-practised smoke and mirrors act of distributing the blame anywhere but on their own deficiencies.

Colin Hamilton, Edinburgh

Hardly kind

John Swinney advises that he wants a kinder and more respectful politics in Scotland but in the same breath says he will not invite Reform to talks at Bute House. Mr Swinney would do well to remember that Reform UK won almost 16 per cent of the Constituency vote and 17 per cent of the Regional vote. Therefore those who voted for Reform UK made a substantial contribution to the almost 58 per cent of those who did not vote for the SNP.

If Mr Swinney wants a kinder and more respectful politics in Scotland he needs to be inclusive and not small and narrow minded. I fear my words will fall on deaf ears.

Richard Allison, Edinburgh

Scunnered Scot

Alex Salmond’s sign-off line was ‘Yours for Scotland’. After Thursday, many of us are scunnered by Scotland.

Barely 53 per cent of those eligible to vote did so, suggesting once again that scarcely half of them are sufficiently interested in the devolved administration to express preferences for the people who should run it. In parts of Glasgow and Fife the turnout was under 50 per cent, and in a few places it was lower than 45 per cent. Few areas could entice 60 per cent of voters to exert themselves to vote.

After more than two decades of this kind of result, with 2021 an outlier, it is clear the excitement in Scottish politics we were promised when devolution was introduced was either a mirage or has evaporated. Perhaps we should have, instead of Swinney’s tired old demand for a constitutional referendum, a vote on closing Holyrood.

After all, it will now provide a platform for a Green MSP who is a citizen of India with only a temporary visa to be here. Another new Green MSP has called for the closing of our prisons.

As someone who has been shoved into a different constituency this time, with no-one now representing me in Holyrood, I am truly scunnered. Scotland really has gone through the looking glass.

Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh

Pass the popcorn

Once again the pro-UK parties failed to convince the electorate. Anas Sarwar must regret turning his weekly FMQ slots into repetitive QUEH rants, turning the other cheek on gender legislation that affected half the electorate and talking out of multiple corners of this mouth on net zero and oil. The Tories rarely got out of second gear since 2014. And John Swinney thinks he has a mandate for Indyref2.

But referendums are decided on number of votes cast, so all any prime minister worth their salt needs to say to him is: “1.8 million votes were required to win the 2014 referendum, you only got 900,000 last week. There are 4.3m voters in Scotland, only one in five voted for the parties that want independence. Now go away, I'm busy.”

If the SNP had spent the last 19 years turning Scotland into the Bavaria of the UK, could prove we could do even better – and still have solid security and trade agreements with the UK – I might well vote for it. This is kind of in line with Reform's ideas and it will be interesting to see if they can galvanise Holyrood.

Popcorn sales should boom as the SNP and Greens try to clear up their mess of the last 15 years amidst a looming £5 billion funding gap. That's if the UK doesn't go socially, politically and financially bust first.

Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire

Democratic deficit

On investigation of the votes cast to gain an MSP seat, for the constituency and regional votes, there is a major disconnect for democracy. The overall votes cast of 4.45 million (2.26m and 2.18m) for 129 seats gave an average of 34,522 votes per seat.

But by party it was very different, the SNP required 25,914 for 58 seats, Labour 47,617 for 17 seats, Reform 43,848 for 17 seats, Greens 24,966 for 15 seats, Conservatives 45,274 for 12 seats and Liberal Democrats 47,763 for ten seats. If the average votes per MSP were applied, thereby making each vote count, the results would have been SNP 44, Labour 23, Reform 21, Greens 11, Conservatives 16 and Liberal Democrat 14, making the parliament much closer to the votes placed, that is democratic. The votes cast for the smaller or independent candidates are basically binned, effectively a wasted voted, as they get no representation. This shows how far from true democracy the Scottish system is but the political class rewards the incumbents.

A change to the system is required to restore the Scottish parliament to truly represent the voters wishes.

Matthew Gracie, Avonbridge, Falkirk

Standing firm

There are a number of Labour MPs who want Keir Starmer to stand down. With the current situation in the Middle East and Ukraine etc, Vladimir Putin’s aggression and Donald Trump’s chaotic administration, is this the time to replace the Prime Minister?

I am not Starmer’s greatest fan, but let us not forget he had the courage to stand up to Trump, in spite of personal insults and derogatory comments about the Royal Navy. He stood firm and kept us out of direct involvement in an illegal war. Imagine if Nigel Farage, who wants to be prime minister, had been in charge, the RAF would have been bombing Iran.

Charles Sinclair, Kirkcaldy, Fife

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