Letters: There is no way Douglas Ross is fit to be First Minister

In other words the Secretary of State for Scotland (Alister Jack) and the leader of the Scottish Tories and thus of the major Holyrood opposition party (Douglas Ross) broke a manifesto promise. The more cynical of your readers will suggest that this is not the first time politicians have done so but on this occasion it was a particularly contemptible betrayal, by two Conservatives in high positions within our democracy, of the poorest people in the world.

Worthy of being the First Minister of Scotland, if there is such a thing after Mr Johnson has finished playing fast and loose with the devolution settlement? I most certainly think not.

John Milne, Uddingston.

TORIES WILL NOT WIN NEXT ELECTION

LIZ Truss must surely have gone into space with Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos and is now on a different planet from the rest of us if she really believes that Douglas Ross will be the next First Minister of Scotland. Someone should tell Ms Truss, who apparently believes "the Tories would win the next Holyrood election" that at the last Holyrood election two months ago the Tories won five constituencies while the SNP won 62 constituencies, and that there was a very good reason for that. Scotland's voters are not as gullible as Ms Truss obviously imagines us to be, and are well aware that a Tory victory in Scotland (shudder) would be to hand Scotland on a plate to all the horrors that come as standard from the Tory Government at Westminster.

So, no Bute House for Mr Ross, but given the amount of coverage he gets from the BBC, it seems highly possible that he might end up as Baron Ross of Pacific Quay.

Ruth Marr, Stirling.

VOTERS NEED TO WAKE UP

THE Bullingdon Club is a private drinking club for students attending Oxford University. It is famous for the conspicuous wealth of its members, its lavish social functions and a collective belief among its members that their money will solve any problems that their outrageous contemptuous behaviour may create.

It doesn’t seem to concern the British general public that the current Prime Minister, one of his predecessors, David Cameron, and Ewen Fergusson, the individual recently appointed to the supposedly independent body charged with monitoring Westminster sleaze, were all members of that elite society at the same time.

It doesn’t trouble the great unwashed that David Cameron while lobbying for Greensill Capital, a company in which he had a financial stake, was found to have bent the rules out of shape but not of actually breaking them, or that Boris Johnson has such a poor grasp of his personal finances that he doesn’t know who pays for his holidays or home renovations. Just like the donkeys who lead the lions in the First World War, Mr Johnson is apparently happy to sacrifice the lives of as many of the Untermenschen as necessary to win the Covid-19 war, especially the really old ones as he feels they have lived long enough.

In his recent interview Dominic Cummings suggested that the party system at Westminster and the Whitehall Civil Service were unfit for purpose; I agree, as should anyone who watches the news rather than Love Island or EastEnders. He also asserted that many MPs are morons, in that I also agree with him, but he forgot to add that so is a sizeable section of the UK electorate and that is why Westminster is currently awash in sleaze and why our Westminster parliamentary democracy has consistently failed to represent the best interests of the majority of UK citizens. Wake up, Scotland.

David J Crawford, Glasgow.

OPPOSITION MUST UP THEIR GAME

I THINK Ruth Davidson is well out of Scottish domestic politics and Alister Jack should stay as Secretary of State for Scotland. She was brilliant in the referendum and the 2016 Holyrood Scottish election and the 2017 General Election but now that independence is dead or, as Michael Gove so picturesquely put it, delayed until after his retirement, Scotland needs leaders with ideas and policies that can win elections and get rid of the SNP, not just rely on anti-independence rhetoric and bland leaflets. The proof of this is the 20 per cent decline in the Conservative vote from 750k in 2017 to 590k in 2021 – and 100k of that is credited to tactical votes. Scottish Labour had a similar decline.

Policy was not one of Baroness Davidson's strengths and the decline in support is the result.

But hopefully she and Lord McInnes, the former director of the Conservatives in Scotland, will absorb and integrate with the more innovative, varied and robust approaches to defeating nationalism that are emanating from Westminster. They and their Holyrood colleagues also need to accept Brexit, work out how "levelling up" can be applied in Scotland and how to reach the one million who voted Leave, two million who voted No, and the 1.8m who didn't vote at all in May.

It isn't just the Tories though, opposition parties need to up their game and create an atmosphere of belief and optimism that there is, after all, a cohort of pro-UK Scottish parties who can reboot and transform our country.

Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven.

WALES HAS ITS GRIPES WITH THE UNION

ADAM Tomkins recommends that Scotland (and England) should look to Wales ("A country at ease with its dual identity. What every Scot can learn from Wales", The Herald, July 21, and Letters, July 22). Of course, what he means is that we should look to Wales to live more happily within the United Kingdom. What else are we to make of his sorrow that while “the Welsh flag and the Union Flag are flown together”, this is more unusual in Scotland?

However, his thesis pretends there are no signs of strain in the Welsh relationship with Westminster – but in this matter he is short-sighted. Just last week, the First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, appearing at the House of Lords Constitution Committee, said: “The state of the Union is under the greatest pressure it has ever been in my political lifetime.”

Mr Drakeford, in support of his view, cited the confrontational approach of “muscular unionism”, and the Westminster Government’s unilateral and aggressive actions toward the devolved administrations. However, going further, just last month Mr Drakeford argued that such behaviour by Westminster made the UK "fragile".

Mr Drakeford, however believes in the UK. He is no Nat and has put forward his own 20-point plan to make it stronger. But, no matter how well-intentioned his plan is, it is hard not to conclude that its direction of travel is totally at odds with that of the current UK Government. He suggests that “the UK Parliament should not normally make law in relation to matters which are decided on in another part of the UK without express consent”. Well, we know that doesn’t work, as Westminster is sovereign and will use its powers to get its way.

Mr Drakeford believes that “ministers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should have a say in the UK’s approach to international relations and trade because these decisions have an impact on decisions made in all parts of the UK”. And so they do, but how much more evidence do we need from Brexit to see that this is not a matter that detains Boris Johnson’s Government to any great degree?

Given what we know of Professor Tomkins, it is no surprise that he prefers a “kinder, gentler nationalism, and a more constructive, collaborative unionism”, but if or when Mr Drakeford and Welsh Labour finds Westminster has little interest in their proffered more collaborative approach, where do they go then?

Alasdair Galloway, Dumbarton.

WHY THE FERRIES ARE BREAKING DOWN

SURELY no-one is surprised at ferry breakdowns ("Fresh wave of ferry chaos as three vessels suffer faults", The Herald, July 23) Firms only order new vessels to replace older ships that will become unreliable. Thanks to the Government interference the firm does not have these replacement ships – hence increasing breakdowns.

James Watson, Dunbar.

* ANENT the CalMac saga and the reference to engineer Dan Macphail (Letters, July 22), I guess what’s needed is a dunt up the stern from Master Mariner Captain Peter “Para Handy” MacFarlane with “if Dougie wass here he would tell you”.

Where’s a Dougie when you need one?

R Russell Smith, Largs.

Read more: Douglas Ross will be the next First Minister, says Liz Truss