Kate Forbes should now step forward with leadership bid

If she wants to try and make a difference then now is the time. Her band of supporters at Holyrood could ensure Mr Yousaf loses the no confidence vote very easily. Failure to do so suggests she is not as keen to lead as is made out.

Humza Yousaf is now required to make a huge compromise over women's rights to keep Ash Regan on side. That would please JK Rowling.

A week really is a very long time in politics.

Dr Gerald Edwards, Glasgow.

This won't save the SNP

SO despite Humza Yousaf talking up his coalition with the Greens as recently as the weekend, the SNP has dumped the Greens before the Greens and their members decide to dump it. Many in Scotland are delighted since it's widely considered that, as a consequence of the Bute House coalition agreement, the tail wagged the dog; ie the SNP administration, particularly under Mr Yousaf, has allowed the minority Greens' far-left radicalism to dominate Scottish governmental policy-making. But will tearing up Nicola Sturgeon's coalition agreement be enough to save the SNP from disaster at the forthcoming General Election?

Surely not. Let us not forget how much damage the SNP has managed to achieve without the Greens' assistance. Mr Yousaf has followed his predecessor's preference to put manufacturing grievances ahead of working constructively with Westminster. He focuses on foreign policy that's beyond his remit to the detriment of our public services. The SNP, despite the efforts of front-line professionals, has gifted us a struggling NHS with record waiting times, even though increasing numbers of Scots are paying for private treatment. The educational attainment gap has only been imperceptibly narrowed. Drug death rates here remain the worst in Europe by some way. The A9 continues to claim lives, despite endless promises to dual, and the SNP's ferry procurement under the SNP is so badly handled it's risible. I could go on.

The Greens' Lorna Slater has been quick to trash her former close partner, the SNP, and, in discussing the end of their agreement, states that Mr Yousaf is "weak", "can no longer be trusted" and has "betrayed the electorate". I suspect Ms Slater is merely confirming what most of us already know about the First Minister and the SNP.

Martin Redfern, Melrose.

READ MORE: I'm so glad the Greens are gone. They won't be missed

READ MORE: We've seen SNP and Greens in action, so why vote for indy?

READ MORE: The standard of politician at Westminster is truly pathetic

Enough is enough

WE have suffered 15 years of SNP government and things just get worse year by year with the highest of taxes and the poorest of services. We now need real change, not just another SNP leader.

Life in Scotland in 2024 now means you may die waiting for treatment or even worse die in an ambulance waiting for a hospital bed; our education system is tumbling down the rankings and our police force has now admitted that many crimes will not now be investigated.

Enough is enough.

Dennis Forbes Grattan, Aberdeen.

Declaration of Fife

AS long as one hundred of us remain alive, we will never be subjected to the dominion of the loopy Greens.

John V Lloyd, Inverkeithing, Fife.

MSPs need to grow a backbone

I NOTE your report on proposals to shake up the Holyrood committee system ("Bid to curb ‘nodding donkey’ MSPs and improve Holyrood", April 21). It is certainly true that too often the committees at Holyrood have proved a disappointment. It is the one area where Westminster is superior with powerful analytical committee reports critical of the government. However the proposal to have chairs elected by the whole parliament is unlikely to make much difference.

In the first full week of committees in 1999 there were elections to chair and vice-chair of committees. The members were all appointed by the parties. I was voted in as a vice-chair. However unbeknown to me another Labour member was supposed to get this honour. The Labour whip Tom McCabe called me in for a ticking-off, though the failure was one of communication, not my ambition. I resigned the vice-chair the next week "to spend more time with my family" and the "correct" member was duly elected.

In my view the committees need far more resource and the government MSPs need to grow a backbone in the interests of good legislation and good governance.

Richard Simpson, Bridge of Allan.

Yousaf missed a trick

A CLASSIC tactic of the Sturgeon regime was to blame the Westminster Government for all of Scotland's woes irrespective of whether an issue fell within the Scottish Government's devolved powers or not. This deflection strategy has clearly been continued by Humza Yousaf as shown by the Scottish Government's handling of the thorny question of compensation for victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal.

For the First Minister and the Justice Secretary, Angela Constance, to express outrage at the UK Government for not including Scotland in its speedy compensation legislation seems to miss the point that Scotland has its own legal system and that the prosecutions in Scotland were led by the Crown Office, not the Post Office, which massively complicates matters. Perhaps they were blissfully unaware that this situation existed or, more likely, they are blaming Westminster to cover up their own incompetence and neglect.

Mr Yousaf missed a trick in not being the first UK nation to introduce compensation legislation.

Bob MacDougall, Kippen.

Does Keir Starmer have a longer-term vision? (Image: PA)

I won't give up on Labour

THERE is no question whatsoever of me voting Conservative given that I believe that the UK is turning, under the influence of the populist hard right, into a country lacking the attributes of a humane society. In fact I will be very disappointed indeed should that party keep any of its seven Scottish Westminster seats at the forthcoming General Election.

And so I ask how Scotland is to escape the malign governance of the current manifestation of Conservatism the philosophies of which I suggest are foreign to Scottish sensibilities?

I acknowledge that nationalists will justifiably point to the social democratic leanings of the SNP of which I approve. Although I also applaud that party’s humane approach to events in Gaza I would wish to express in my vote a very unfavourable judgment indeed on its overall performance in office.

So that leaves me with the Labour Party under Keir Starmer. Is he capable of reversing the disasters brought upon us by 14 years of Conservative misrule? Does he wish to? Consider, for instance, his attitude to Brexit, now known as Bregret given the polling figures.

However it is not inconceivable that he has a longer-term vision founded on progressive Labour ideals such as those he promised in his leadership bid. I quote: “I’ve spent my life fighting for justice, standing up for the powerless and against the powerful ... Based on the moral case for socialism, here is where I stand.”

On the basis of the foregoing I shall not give up entirely on a Labour future. After all, Labour’s founding principles are a constant for which I shall vote no matter the current leadership’s determination to take the party to the right.

John Milne, Uddingston.