For Kevin McKenna to suggest that the behaviour of politicians at Holyrood would be fundamentally different from the “nose in the trough” policy that seems the norm at Westminster is disingenuous; monkey see, monkey do.

As I have said before, I vote SNP simply because they are the only party to espouse independence for Scotland. I went to join their Maryhill local branch and left in a huff because the meeting was a pointless waste of time.

If there was a left-wing socialist party that cared about the Scots rather than perpetuating the UK social and economic order and also wanted us to be an independent nation rather than a resource for England and multinationals to exploit they would get my vote.

The significant part of Mr McKenna’s essay was actually the last three paragraphs where he suggests that the UK does not have a functioning democracy that works in the interest of the common man. I agree. At a time when there is little or no difference between the policies of the Conservative Government and those of the UK Labour Party nobody seems either to know or question why Sir Keir Starmer is also a member of the Trilateral Commission. Go look it up!

David J Crawford, Glasgow

The SNP has helped the working poor

As a socialist I take exception to Kevin McKenna’s article that the SNP have taken Scotland for a ride. He has obviously forgotten, or wasn’t one of the working poor, that were very thankful to them for bringing in things like free prescriptions, scrapping bridge tolls, keeping council tax down, etc. They have tried to make life easier for ordinary working class people and although they haven’t always got it right, I think Scotland is better off under them. Labour and the others just want to be in with the big boys at Westminster.

I would like to see a Labour government in power but until Scottish Labour can match the SNP we are better off with what we have.

E Donnachie, Glasgow

Yes, we were deluded back in 2014

I have to agree with Peter A Russell that so many of us were deluded in 2014. Remaining part of the UK we have suffered austerity, a weak currency, poorest performing economy, inflation, Brexit and PPE corruption on an unprecedented scale. Our defence relies upon tanks which can’t be driven and a fleet which cannot sail.

As the Herald reported recently, we, an energy exporting nation, pay the highest prices in the UK. A No vote has given us the disasters that were Johnson, Truss and Kwarteng.

The only sunlit upland in sight is that far from running out, oil reserves are in abundance and our wind energy may yet make us the Saudi Arabia of renewables. Do we really wish to allow Westminster to squander the proceeds again?

I am afraid those who believed Better Together “cast away priceless time in dreams, born of imagination, fed upon illusion and now put to death by reality.”

Alan Carmichael, Glasgow

Voters won’t be flocking back to Labour

The glee displayed by Peter A Russell in his letter (17th April), welcoming what he describes as " the twilight of the long Salmond-Sturgeon era" is as "delusional" as it is "hysterical" .

Mr Russell thinks that the catastrophic governance of Scotland within the UK, at the root of the rise of the SNP, will suddenly be forgotten, and that supporters of independence will flock back to the Labour Party chastened and contrite, having realised that within the UK "You can't always get what you want" " But if you try sometimes, you get what you need", courtesy of the Brexit-supporting Labour Party.

He is wrong, and he may also find that "the "politically impossible" becomes the politically imperative after a few more years of Lab/Con government from Westminster.

I suspect that Mr Russell's knowledge of the 1968 lyrics of a Rolling Stones record betrays his age, as it does mine, and therein lies his problem. Our generation is on its way out, and the younger generation (to two of whom I am a parent) may be currently annoyed with the SNP, but they also stopped thinking of the Labour Party as the answer to the UK's problems some time ago.

On the subject of the finances of the SNP; if the police don't come up with a prosecution or two, or the financial regulatory authorities can't find some pretty serious malfeasance, then a lot of questions will have to be answered, and not by the SNP.

John Jamieson, Ayr.

I feel sorry for the new First Minister

I was astounded to learn, in Tom Gordon's article, about the 45 SNP at Westminster along with their support staff (“SNP finance crisis: party faces imposition of outside auditors”, The Herald, April 15)

Why? I ask myself, what is their function, apart from heckling the Tories, and then off to lunch and no doubt the bar later?

Maybe flats provided for them and free flights to and from Scotland to make their arduous duties more comfortable.

These individuals and their support staff should be in Scotland instead of swanning about Westminster. It is no wonder that the party is without auditors, and no desire for any company to untangle this financial can of worms.

It pains me to say this, but I feel sorry for our new First Minister, who was left this poisoned financial chalice of which he had no knowledge.

Neil Stewart, Balfron

Nonsense on tax disparity with England

Liz Smith, Tory shadow finance secretary, asserts that proposals to allow Scottish councils to double taxation on second homes would widen the tax disparity between Scotland and England or Wales. This is patent nonsense as England proposes (under Levelling Up) that councils can levy double council tax on furnished property not used as a main residence, and Wales is to allow council tax premiums of up to 300% on second homes.

Tory ignorance may be bliss, but it hardly encourages faith in alternative governance for Scotland, or to build up a new stock of social housing in case a future Tory/Labour regime sells it off for peanuts.

GR Weir, Ochiltree.

The SNP doesn’t understand economics

The SNP is financially directionless. Mr Yousaf wants to tax middle and high income Scots, who already bear a higher tax burden than England, even more. Along comes Kate Forbes with a theoretically different plan (“ScotGov must "do more with own powers' to end poverty”, The Herald, April 18th) but equally ill-thought out as this will also inevitably lead to higher taxation too.

The SNP just does not understand economics. Ms Forbes had a chance to address poverty whilst she was finance secretary and failed. It is just more of the same no matter who is in charge as raising taxation levels are not the answer, proper economic policies for growth and lower taxation are. Meantime Ms Forbes and Mr Yousaf are fighting it out with each other whilst the solution escapes both of them.

Dr Gerald Edwards Glasgow.

Scotland should do more to promote itself

Lesley Riddoch is absolutely correct when she writes that Scotland should be upping its game overseas (“Scotland should find a new way of doing foreign affairs”, The Herald, April 17). Four of us, my

husband, our son, his young daughter and I, are just back from a superb tour, by train, of Germany and Switzerland. A focus of the trip was a theme park in Germany featuring zones from different European countries.

England identified itself with Union Jacks and London buses and taxis, but not a mention of the other nations of the UK. To add to that, the clerk in the hotel put my son's address on his bill as "Edinburgh, England". Need I say more?

Patricia Fort, Glasgow

Bad memory won’t pass the test

When Nicola Sturgeon takes the theory part of her driving test, will she eventually grasp that “I can't recall”, “I honestly can't remember”, and “It's difficult to recollect with certainty” aren't acceptable answers?

Martin Redfern, Melrose

Why not come to Rutherglen Ms Sturgeon?

Nicola Sturgeon’s reputation has taken a bit of a hammering recently. To see if she’s still as popular with the public why doesn’t she stand as a candidate in the Rutherglen by-election?

Michael Watson, Rutherglen