Just how much lower can our hypocritical politicians go?

Confusing messages are not confined to one party. Douglas Ross has complained that free speech is under threat due to the Hate Crime Bill. But hang on, is this not the same Douglas Ross who was outraged that Humza Yousaf spoke to the Turkish President without first getting permission?

Then we had Anas Sarwar stating at this year’s Scottish Labour Party conference that his main mission was to transfer decision-making down to local communities. But his deputy Jackie Baillie had announced the previous day that if in power she will close down a number of local health boards, thereby transferring responsibility away from the very communities her boss seeks to empower. If these people can’t even sing from the same hymn sheet why should I vote for them?

Meanwhile for the SNP John Swinney reinforces his mission to return integrity and ethics to Holyrood by rejecting the findings of a committee looking into the integrity and ethics of one of his former ministers. Whilst I’ve heard of a professional foul this is the first time I’ve encountered a professional own goal.

Not to be outdone, Ed Davey of the Liberal Democrats thinks it’s a good idea to fall into a lake from a paddle board in an election photo call ("Sir Ed Davey takes the plunge as he reveals Lib Dem plan to tackle sewage crisis", heraldscotland, May 28). He even claims it was deliberate. But what message was that stunt supposed to send out, especially in a year when desperate women and children have fallen overboard and drowned in the Channel?

One week in and already the politicians have achieved the seemingly impossible by leaving Paula Vennells in possession of the moral high ground.

Robert Menzies, Falkirk.

Labour pledges ring hollow

SEVERAL of Labour’s election campaign promises don’t stand up to the mildest scrutiny, such as claims that GB Energy will lower bills when it appears that its main purpose is to encourage private companies to invest in renewables schemes for a profit. Given the lack of willingness of UK banks to invest in renewable start-ups this seems to be mere wishful thinking.

Labour’s original £28 billion green energy promise claimed 65,000 British jobs; now we are expected to believe Anas Sarwar’s claim that Scotland’s share of the remaining £4 billion investment will create 69,000 Scottish jobs, particularly when Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce repeated its claim that Labour’s proposed oil and gas windfall tax increase will result in 100,000 lost jobs in the north-east.

Due to the hard Brexit that Labour will stick to, Scotland will still face damaging customs and regulatory barriers to its biggest export market while in Ireland, an EU member, unemployment is as low as it's ever been with net migration of around 40,000 new arrivals per year helping to sustain their economic growth.

Scotland has the highest Foreign Direct Investment outside London and the South-east, with the Scottish Parliament delivering investment and growth through its successful overseas trade offices selling and promoting Scotland to the world, yet Labour wants to bypass this and increase such powers in London in order to undermine devolution.

Wes Streeting was right when he said that “all roads lead back to Westminster” when defending Labour’s poorer devolved NHS performance in Wales.

Scotland’s NHS is performing significantly better compared to England or Wales, particularly in meeting the 18-week target for life-threatening conditions and 84 per cent of Scots who need a GP appointment are seen within two working days while the average waiting time in England is 10 days.

Mary Thomas, Edinburgh.

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• I WONDER if any of your readers can tell me why the party of Anas Sarwar and Keir Starmer is called the "Labour Party". As far as I can see it has precious little to do with labour, the working class or people who depend on selling their labour in order to live.

There used to be a party that represented labour. It was the political arm of the trade union movement. It fought for the rights of those who sell their labour for a living. It was anti-war and it was for collective ownership of public services and vital industries. The party led by Messrs Starmer and Sarwar stands for none of these. It supports the sale of weapons to Israel. In Tony Blair's time it took us to war in Iraq and sold weapons to Indonesia for its colonial war in East Timor. It has made no commitment to overturn Tory anti-union legislation. Indeed, it was welcomed into its ranks a nasty right-wing Tory MP who is avowedly anti-trade union. And then this week it trumpeted its claim that it was the real party of big business. In place of a socialist manifesto it just has the slogan "Change". Well, even Nigel Farage wants change.

So why is it called "Labour"? It does not make sense. It appears simply to be another flavour of Tory.

David Currie, Tarland.

Windfall tax plan is feeble

I REFER to Mark Williamson's article ("'North Sea giant plans $500m investor payouts amid Labour tax furore ("The Herald, May 29). Unless the much-slated oil/gas firms are somehow getting drilling rights on the cheap, their current super-normal profits are perfectly legitimate. Windfall taxes are merely a political gimmick, a vote-catcher.

Why is Labour not focused on the huge unearned profits made by rent-seekers whenever public infrastructure investment occurs? For example, the Queensferry Crossing raised land values in the Fife "bridgehead" area substantially, with no mechanism in place to recoup them as revenue.

And what about the banks' profits from their privilege of creating money out of thin air? These should be Labour's fiscal targets, not companies engaged in honest production. This is Labour economic policy at its feeblest.

George Morton, Rosyth.

Vote tactically to oust the SNP

IT’S not often that an SNP politician makes me laugh, but Owen Thompson hit the spot when he claimed that a tactical vote for him would save the constituency of Midlothian from falling into the hands of the Tories. Bearing in mind he is the current MP for the area and that Labour lies second with a good chance of beating him, his claims are not only fanciful but desperate.

Scottish voters should use tactical voting to help us rid ourselves of SNP MPs. Voting for the party that is most likely to beat the SNP will mean we can get politicians in Westminster who want to improve our lot rather than just sitting on those green benches claiming a salary many of us could only dream of, while pretending to want to achieve independence. The SNP MPs would rather promote division than make our lives better.

Vote tactically for better representation at Westminster.

Jane Lax, Aberlour.

Rishi Sunak calling the General Election in the midst of a downpour (Image: PA)

The end is nigh for Sunak

THREE images stick out in my mind from Rishi Sunak's electioneering campaign so far and the optics of those three do not do him any favours. What else could be coming down the track in the same vein?

First of all the sight of him standing drookit in the rain in Downing Street all on his own is one which will feature as a forlorn photograph if the opinion polls about his electoral chances turn out to be accurate and will be branded in the memory of the nation forever.

His ill-chosen visit to the Titanic exhibition in Belfast made him an easy target for questions slanted to show him as the captain of a foundering ship.

Wednesday's newsreel saw him alighting from a train on an empty platform all on his own with his backpack like a lonely hiker giving the illusion of being Rishi No Friends.

What else lies in store for him on his electoral odyssey we can only wait and see. No doubt some imaginative photographer will try to capture a snap of him against a backdrop where he will be filmed sandwiched between words like "THE" and "END" or something of that ilk.

As that famous football commentator once said so memorably, "They think it's all over ... it is now."

Denis Bruce, Bishopbriggs.