Labour's first act should be to dump the voting system

As a lifelong independence supporter myself, I have always voted SNP. In my early voting years, this was a protest vote only. My home has always been in constituencies where (until the post-2014 SNP surge) we were getting a Labour or Conservative MP regardless of which box I ticked. So SNP got my vote as it would make no difference to the result, but I could still express my views at the ballot box.

In 2015 that changed and, for the first time in my adult life, I actually got an MP for whom I had voted.

Of course the D'Hondt system meant that being represented was nothing new - in the early years of the post-1999 Scottish Parliament, my list vote ensured I was represented in Holyrood opposition.

As a democrat I am not in favour of any one side dominating unless people actually vote for it. Much as I oppose the views of many on the opposition benches in Holyrood, I absolutely believe they should be there, as they represent the views of a minority of my fellow Scots, just as my list MSP did when my side was in opposition.

In a UK General Election, voters in Scotland do not get to choose the government. Sheer weight of numbers means we get the government chosen by the far larger electorate in England. We do, however, have the opportunity to help shape the opposition.

It looks inevitable that Labour will form the next UK government. It should have electoral reform right at the top of its to-do list so that never again will the system give absolute power to a party which has won only a minority of the popular vote.

On July 4, I will be placing my cross against the candidate I believe will best provide some opposition to that absolute power which Labour will wield. I'm voting SNP.

Gregor Clark, Irvine.

Reunite the Yes Movement

SEVERAL correspondents have indicated that they will vote SNP but only whilst holding their noses.

Too many MPs at Westminster are perceived as only interested in their salaries and expenses.

Competent governance may be some way off and a referendum even further but there is one opportunity available immediately. if they are to prove their recent, rediscovered commitment to independence then surely it behoves the leadership to open negotiations and reunite the Yes movement?

JFK said think not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country. Over to you, Mr Swinney.

Alan Carmichael, Glasgow.

READ MORE: I can’t face voting either SNP or Labour: What do I do?

READ MORE: Our only hope is to vote SNP – even if we have to hold our noses

READ MORE: What on earth did the Tories ever see in Douglas Ross?

I'm Alba and I'm not oddball

NEIL Mackay is facing the dilemma of deciding on which party he should bestow his vote in the forthcoming General Election.

Perhaps I can help him. I joined Alba in 2021 and so far have found it an enlightened and an intelligent party. It is not afraid to articulate policy, to encourage debate, and to engage with the public. It is committed to the achievement of independence, and it offers realistic and achievable strategies to secure its aim. And in its welcoming and good-natured approach to its membership, it often reminds me of the SNP of former days.

I don’t consider myself to be an "oddball nat" or a "weird obsessive" and I have yet to meet anyone of that description in the ranks of Alba. I hope that readers of his column will have a more reflective approach to political issues than that expressed by Mr Mackay, and I trust that anyone with even a modest interest in independence will consider the Alba party and its candidates worthy of their vote.

Dr Elsa Hamilton, Glasgow.

LibDems' NHS conundrum

I RECEIVED a leaflet recently from the LibDem candidate for the Mid Dunbartonshire constituency in which she says “the Lib Dems have plan to fix our NHS”. The LibDems must surely know that everything they propose is within the powers of the Scottish Parliament because health is devolved to the Scottish Parliament. So, how will they save Scotland’s NHS in the context of this General Election campaign? By using (or creating) Westminster powers to by-pass the Scottish Parliament and direct health boards on how to spend money? By taking back to Westminster full powers over health and so not allowing the Scottish Parliament any say over health? The leaflet does not say.

The leaflet also offers no explanation as to how any additional resources required to fulfil the plan would be found. Scotland’s NHS, like all services provided by devolved bodies, is subject to financial constraints as part of devolution. Scotland’s Parliament has limited borrowing powers and likewise limited tax-raising powers. Do the LibDems propose directing the Scottish Parliament to cut existing budgets controlled by the Scottish Parliament to give more to the NHS in Scotland? Do they propose instead to increase the Block Grant to Scotland to pay for the additional services? Maybe they envisage Westminster giving the Scottish Parliament greater tax and borrowing powers? The leaflet explains none of this.

The leaflet claims that Scotland’s NHS is suffering under the current Scottish Government; an SNP administration. It gives no comparative analysis, showing for instance how Scotland fares compared to the other parts of the UK. What the LibDems say in the leaflet may, or may not, be true. It is slightly surprising though that if Scotland is indeed performing so poorly that the LibDems do not think fit to show comparative data.

The point though is not about the state of Scotland’s NHS but about how the LibDems will implement their plan to improve Scotland’s NHS. The leaflet only make sense as a General Election leaflet if the LibDems explain both how Westminster will impact upon the existing powers of the Scottish Parliament and how the additional services envisioned will be funded. Without those explanations the leaflet has no relevance to issues that are entirely dealt with by the Scottish Parliament. For a party supposedly in favour of federalism the leaflet suggests the very opposite: control by Westminster of Scotland’s health. That would not be healthy for Scotland’s democracy.

David Logan, Milngavie.

Was that a dagger he saw before him?

MICHAEL Dobbs famously developed the character of Francis Urquhart around the letters FU. Even though Urquhart Castle is not the castle where Macbeth murders Duncan, there definitely must be something in the air of that part of the world that makes vaulting ambition o’erleap itself.

Douglas Ross's constituency is, roughly speaking, commensurate with the seat of the far better-known Mormaer of Moray. Everyone knows, or should know, that Shakespeare's Macbeth is just a play. But Mr Ross appears to have read it as a manual for self-aggrandisement. Surely a professional football official should have understood that foul is fair, and fair is foul is not the way the game is meant to be played. True, he did speak of his friend David Duguid, but then again Macbeth did speak well of Banquo. Now every single time he rises to make a point, whether it be Holyrood or Westminster, the image of Duguid will be arrayed afore him. Duguid is a name that will haunt Douglas Ross for the rest of his political career. In attempting to do everything he will be left with nothing. Mr Ross can do no good now, and all the perfumes in Arabia will not wash this stain from his hands. He is finished as a politician.

For all his positions Douglas Ross is not someone with a glittering or memorable political career. There is nothing in his political life that will rank with how he now leaves. He has done the right thing and resigned as leader but he must do more. He should resign as an MSP and give up on his ambition to become an MP. If he doesn’t do this voluntarily it will not be Birnam wood on the move; it'll be thousands of angry voters ready to complete his humiliation by choosing anybody but him.

Graeme Arnott, Stewarton.

Douglas Ross (Image: Newsquest)

Beware Farage's supporters

ALAN Fitzpatrick has been allowed a second paean of praise for Nigel Farage in your columns this week (Letters, June 10 & 12). He states that he is worried about civil unrest. It is unclear whether he thinks this will be caused by immigrants or caused by people reacting to the presence of immigrants. In either case, his naive view that Nigel Farage “hounding and harassing” the mainstream political parties on immigration will solve the problem is sadly misplaced. His right-wing supporters are more likely to foment than forestall civil unrest.

Sam Craig, Glasgow.