Letters: I once was proud of the Tories. How could I possibly be now?

Brexit has torn Scotland out of the EU against its will. This has made trade with Europe so difficult that Scotland is losing income it badly needs. Tory financial mismanagement of the UK has led to rampant inflation which has left most of us much worse off but some so poor that they are both cold and hungry. We can be proud of our food banks, if embarrassed that they have been forced upon us. The Tory Government had no hand in setting them up, only driving more and more people into reliance on them. Is this their idea of encouraging enterprise and levelling up?

I had a cousin who was Chief Whip in a Tory Government. I was proud of Lord Home when he stood and spoke so well to the United Nations. I was even there to see him do it. How can I be proud of a Prime Minister without even the common manners to get in touch with the First Ministers of the other countries in the UK? Was the one before her any better? Someone who would give the green light to evacuating a planeload of dogs from Kabul, leaving behind Afghans and their families who had supported the British and were at great risk of being killed by the Taliban? We used to trust the Conservatives as having a steady hand, but this lot mouth one contradictory policy after another.

Is Labour any better? I can see so little difference in their policies that I feel Sir Keir Starmer has thrown his lot in with the entitled elite on the opposite benches.

The SNP/Green alliance offers a strong lifeboat ready to save us from this sinking Titanic. It is called independence. I suggest Mr Howell takes a good look at where he is going at present under this Tory lead and save himself and his family to live a better life in an independent Scotland.
Elizabeth Scott, Edinburgh

Right to detest these policies

THE faux outrage which greeted Nicola Sturgeon's comment that she detested the Tories and everything they stand for ("Holyrood chief is asked to step into Tory row", The Herald, October 10) was another example of Tories desperately clutching at straws; but the straws have slipped from their fingers and left them floundering, because clearly Ms Sturgeon's view of Tory policies is one shared by a great number of people, not only in Scotland, but around the other UK nations. And it is absolutely right that people should detest policies designed to give the rich tax cuts at the expense of the poor, and their aim to pack vulnerable people on to planes bound for Rwanda, just as it was right in the past to detest the bedroom tax and the poll tax.

I found it very refreshing that in the First Minister's conference speech ("Sturgeon's rallying cry over plans for new indyref vote", The Herald, October 11), which embraced all those suffering oppression and violence in Ukraine, Iran and Afghanistan, and which brimmed over with positivity and ambition for Scotland, she emphasised the strong bonds of friendship Scotland has with England, Wales and Ireland which could be strengthened with independence when these nations would meet together in a spirit of co-operation and respect, "a true partnership of equals". That is an exciting and laudable aspiration for a new and better future for us all.
Ruth Marr, Stirling

Will FM really respect court?

NICOLA Sturgeon said in her conference speech that she would respect the decision of Supreme Court judges regarding the power to hold another referendum. Would this be in the same way she respected the decisions of the 2014 referendum, the national vote on Brexit, and many other instances in which she respects the decisions she likes and ignores the rest?

She also said she will never give up the fight for Scottish democracy. The same criteria applies. Scottish democracy under the SNP is based on "We decide, not you".
Ian Balloch, Grangemouth

The storms are just starting

NICOLA Sturgeon's speech might have gone down well with the faithful in the hall but it was all about independence, which the Supreme Court could shortly quash. There was little or no mention, unsurprisingly, of all the real problems besetting Scotland right now. We all know what they are: health, education, the economy and transport.

Ms Sturgeon's speech could have been delivered any time in the last few years. Scotland has not progressed and in many ways has regressed under her less than watchful eye.

The winter political storms are just getting started. Independence is not the answer. Sound ideas and practical ways to alleviate all the above problems are. As Ms Sturgeon's speech pointed out by its omissions, these answers will not be forthcoming from our current Government.

She stated she was not yet ready to leave her job. This is unlikely to be up to her.
Dr Gerald Edwards, Glasgow

SNP's empty, shallow politics

SO the debate regarding the nature of a "de facto referendum" has started. It is not hard to see how this will play out.

We can be quite confident that if the SNP polls 50%+1 or over, it will declare the referendum won. And at the same time, Scotland's UK government – whoever it is – will say "nope, sorry, it was a General Election."

And if the SNP falls short of that figure, it will say that it was not a referendum at all but a General Election. And at the same time, Scotland's UK Government will say "nope, sorry, it was a referendum and you lost. Bye-bye, Nicola".

Such is the empty and shallow politics that the SNP has delivered on Scotland by its constant tedious campaign to overturn the will of the people as expressed in its own referendum. And to think that we expected so much better from devolution.
Peter A Russell, Glasgow

Pension concerns are unfounded

DUNCAN Sooman (Letters, October 11), ignores the fact that after independence we can change the government of the day and at every election will get the one that attracts the most votes in Scotland, unlike at Westminster elections.

On his pensions concerns, people who have retired to Spain or emigrated to Australia still get their UK pension and a leading UK pensions expert, Baroness Ros Altmann, a former Tory pensions minister, stated in February that the “SNP state pension position is understandable. How can the UK Government refuse to pay state pensions to people reaching state pension age after paying the required National Insurance contributions? If they live abroad their state pension is paid to them. We need to negotiate it all.”

If Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Luxembourg and Ireland can all pay better state pensions than the UK, then so could Scotland with our vast surplus energy resources.

Westminster still takes the bulk of our taxes, but Scotland’s taxation, that it raises itself, is currently enough to pay for all of the Scottish Government’s policy responsibilities, plus all social security provision and all Scottish public pensions in any normal year.
Fraser Grant, Edinburgh

Why would you want in the EU?

AS an avid Brexit-supporting Sassenach, who also believes Scotland should determine its own future, I am nonplussed as to why the SNP would wish to rejoin the EU anyway.

However, even supposing an Indyref2 is successful, the EU has a stipulation that no country can join with a GDP deficit of above three per cent; Scotland's is currently 12.3 per cent.

Whilst there may be some movement on this because of Covid and Ukraine, the EU is hard up for cash, as Ireland has recently discovered. Ireland, with a similar population to Scotland, for so long a recipient member, has had subscriptions doubled and expects to pay €4 billion by 2027.

Moreover, instead of Westminster rule, where £35.1bn of Barnett formula is given up, the Scots would opt for Brussels. And history shows that, in the main, only German, Belgian and French MEPs – the three de facto leaders of the bloc – are voted into the top positions.

So, what's the difference?
Jim Sokol, Minehead, Somerset

Read more letters: Supreme Court ruling will be a win-win for the SNP

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