Letters: I will vote SNP again – so that it can be removed from power

We looked on as Alex Salmond undermined the chances of success in 2014 when he failed to come up with a Plan B for our currency and sacrificed intelligent argument in favour of sound bites such as “independence in 18 months” – a ludicrous prediction and one guaranteed to scare the horses or, in this case, undecided voters.

And so the SNP is once again in the process of undermining the success of any future “Yes” campaign. The greatest sin Nicola Sturgeon’s Government has perpetrated – and there are many – is its timorous decision not to form a national energy company. This is the greatest betrayal of the Scottish people since 1707. We are told by a Government spokesperson that we could not have a national energy company unless we were independent. Not that old trope again. The SNP is master of the chicken/egg argument.

The SNP is now bereft of imagination and courage. Have we learned nothing from the likes of Norway and how it benefited from the oil boom? Could we not have come up with a grand plan as to how the people, not the corporate giants, would benefit from the wind bonanza? Based on that model we could have shown undecided voters how we can fund our independence. Unlike the 2014 argument that was predicated on oil, this is a resource that won’t run dry.

There are hugely imaginative, inspiring and well researched plans for a “new” inclusive Scotland, such as Common Weal’s, around which those who simply share a vision for a better Scotland could rally. If the Labour Party were not so intransigent it might realise this. (And surely the Conservatives must realise by now how little Westminster values Scotland and Scottish Tories and start engaging in the debate of how a better Scotland could look.)

Where I disagree with Mr Mackay is that I believe we need a referendum sooner rather than later so that we can depose this SNP government, reverse this mad ScotWind lease agreement before it is too late, decentralise power even further to local communities where it is possible and advantageous and redraw our political landscape.

I still believe that can be done and, in the absence of an alternative, I will vote SNP again and, yes, it will be so I can remove its grip from power. The sooner the better.

William Thomson, Denny.

THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE OUR FUTURE

LABOUR Councillor Alex Gallagher (Letters, January 25) appears to believe that Scotland is the only country in the world that can't function as an independent country; but of the world's richest developed nations, seven of the 10 wealthiest are of similar size to Scotland. Councillor Gallagher claims that "Scotland is not suppressed in any way", but we've been taken out of the EU despite voting strongly to remain, and I would point out to him that opinion polls in EU countries show support for an independent Scotland joining the EU, with Fabian Zuleeg, chief executive of the European Policy Centre in Brussels, confirming that "the mood on the EU policy side is rather positive" while Donald Tusk, former European Council President, has said that the EU would "enthusiastically" welcome an independent Scotland.

Councillor Gallagher claims that the UK was formed "by the willing agreement of all parties in the Act of Union", but surely he is aware that there was rioting in the streets when Scots discovered that their independence had been signed away by Scottish nobles; as he is a Labour Party member, I would have expected Councillor Gallagher to have been on the side of the working class people of Scotland.

Councillor Gallagher argues that the lives and attitudes of city dwellers in Aberdeen or Glasgow are little different from those in cities south of the Border, but a huge difference is in the way they vote, and Aberdeen and Glasgow, and indeed almost all of Scotland, have made the Labour Party practically extinct, including in Councillor Gallagher's own constituency, which has both an SNP MP and SNP MSP. Councillor Gallagher declares that there is "no democratic case" for independence; presumably he is content that Scotland should be saddled with innumerable Conservative governments we never voted for, which might explain his irritation that Nicola Sturgeon is committed to her promise to deliver a referendum which will give Scotland's voters the right to choose Scotland's future.

Ruth Marr, Stirling.

LABOUR HAS NOTHING TO OFFER

I OFTEN disagree with Kevin McKenna’s Opinion pieces, but he was spot on with his analysis of the defection of Christian Wakeford MP from the Tories to Labour ("What does a Tory crossing the floor say about Labour?", The Herald, January 24). His constituency of Bury South had returned a Labour MP to Westminster since 1997, and Mr Wakeford scraped in with a majority of just 402 in December 2019. His election campaign must have received a boost when the then Labour MP, Ivan Lewis, was suspended over allegations of sexual harassment, following which he resigned from Labour and sat as an Independent.

Given the widespread disenchantment in the Red Wall seats that turned Tory in 2019, only to discover they’d been led up the garden path with false promises of "levelling up", it’s likely that Bury South will go back to Labour at the next General Election. Mr Wakeford won’t want to be out on his ear after one term, so it’s entirely logical for him to jump ship and climb aboard another vessel. He isn’t the only politician to follow Marxism (Groucho, that is): “These are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others.”

As Mr McKenna points out, the really interesting thing is what Mr Wakeford’s short walk across the floor of the Commons says about Labour. It has welcomed with open arms an arch Tory, who stood on a platform of support for the Conservative manifesto and who voted in favour of Tory legislation targeting the weak and vulnerable. All that matters to Labour is getting one over the Tories; where’s the principle in that?

Labour is an empty vessel, driven by a deep desire for power and the personal benefits power brings. It talks the talk but, until it demonstrates genuine principle, it has nothing to offer the electorate beyond a change of faces on the government benches. When I was active for Labour in the 1990s, I took the view that it was necessary for the party to offer policies that would attract enough votes to get it into power. But the purpose of power should be to enact those policies; too many on the Tory and Labour benches at Westminster want power only for their own glorification or enrichment.

Doug Maughan, Dunblane.

WHY I HOPE JOHNSON STAYS

I LIKE to consider myself to be well informed but I am getting to the point where I think it would be better for my sanity to avoid any news stories, be it on the radio, TV, newspapers or online.

The media have decided that Boris Johnson has to go. This is a campaign now that he may well not withstand. I voted Tory at the last election, liked that he got Brexit done even though I voted Remain but don’t particularly like his character. The media however do not/should not get to decide who runs the country. The electorate voted by a vast majority for his party to run the country at a time when he was its leader.

I have been working from home throughout Covid but if I had been at my place of work and someone brought a cake in or I provided cakes, that does not constitute such a heinous crime. The Prime Minister was in his place of work and the celebration of his birthday with a piece of cake was what any of us would have done all over the country.

The media are determined to oust Mr Johnson and for that reason, I hope they do not succeed. The rich and powerful control so many aspects of our lives already. Enough is enough.

Jane Lax, Aberlour.

* THE head of the Metropolitan Police, Cressida Dick, now states inquiries will be initiated into the various Boris Johnson partying issues. As these events have been public knowledge for some considerable time it does appear Dame Cressida has "accommodated" the occupiers of No 10 by previously turning a blind eye to the reported allegations.

Perhaps she should consider her own position in view of her failure to act earlier in this deteriorating national debacle.

Allan C Steele, Giffnock.

SAY IT AGAIN, SAM

IT’S reassuring to be told that the Deputy Prime Minister “thinks” that the “substance” of Sue Gray’s findings will be made public ("Censor fears as Johnson faces new claims over wife’s parties", The Herald, January 24).

Reminds one of Sam Goldwyn’s (almost) unqualified enthusiasm for a certain book: “I read part of it all the way through.”

Robin Dow, Rothesay.

Read more: Sturgeon must know there is no case for independence

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