Letters: MPs should be following the will of their constituents on Brexit

James Cant,

Gilmour Street, Eaglesham.

INTERESTING, yesterday, to see on First Minister’s Questions Iain Gray scribbling and passing a bit of paper to Richard Leonard as he was about to address the First Minister. Does Mr Leonard know so little about Scottish affairs that he needs a prompt from an ex-leader to be able to take part in this session and know what to ask?

P Davidson,

Gartcows Road, Falkirk.

I WAS struck by the irony in the letter from Martin Redfern (September 6). He states that Nicola Sturgeon "abuses her position as First Minister in an attempt to buy the votes of EU citizens".

How does this compare with Prime Minister Theresa May, for whom he is full of praise, who successfully bought the votes of the DUP?

David Hay,

12 Victoria Park, Minard.

ALEX Salmond has experienced much and continued criticism from the Unionist camp regarding his show broadcast on RT; they oppose his association with that television channel.

Irrespective of the opinions of viewers of his programme, it is worthy of note that the association referred to is used also by several UK-based companies for commercial advertising and the benefits accruing therefrom, noted today (September 6) as including Shark (cleaning equipment), Selectspecs (optical), David Lloyd (sports clubs), Car Wow (new car sales) and Direct Bullion (gold sales). These and no doubt other UK businesses have not been admonished in any way whatsoever for their commercial activity in that direction nor should they have been. That fact exposes the naked hypocrisy of the opponents of Mr Salmond's well known aspiration for Scotland`s independence, only one example of the dishonourable tactics being relied upon. The proponents of that behaviour should be ashamed.

John Hamilton.

G/2, 1 Jackson Place, Bearsden.

FURTHER to the relevant points made by Alasdair Galloway (Letters, September 6) in his response to DH Telford (Letters, September 5), may I assure Mr Telford that he need not be concerned that "the SNP would have absolutely nowhere to go in the event that independence is actually achieved". Given the Unionist parties' track record of negativity towards Scotland, in contrast with the SNP's confidence in Scotland's ability to run its own affairs, Scottish voters may well feel that no reliance can be placed on "Scottish" Labour, the "Scottish" Conservatives and the "Scottish" LibDems, to protect their interests; in an independent Scotland it will be essential that Scottish voters continue to have the choice of voting for the political party which, over decades, fought heart and soul to put Scotland's future into Scotland's hands.

Ruth Marr,

99 Grampian Road,

Stirling.

DH Telford appears to believe that when Scotland becomes independent the SNP’s leaders will simply disappear from political life and the party cease activity. This is not what has happened when other countries have become free. From George Washington to Nelson Mandela, the leaders of independence movements have become their countries’ leaders. The Gandhi family led India for many years; Archbishop Makarios, a resistance leader, became head of Cyprus after liberation and Jomo Kenyatta moved from being actively involved in the freedom movement to head of state. There are many more examples.

Given independence, the SNP will doubtlessly change, perhaps split, but if precedent is a good guide then it will continue in active politics for a long time.

Hugh Boyd,

65 Antonine Road, Bearsden.

LATEST figures from the David Hume Institute indicate that Scottish productivity is stagnant ("Scottish economy ‘stagnated’ for 15 years says report", The Herald, September 6).

This is not surprising, as the SNP administration was repeatedly warned by leading economists that you can't tax your way out of recession and by increasing taxes the SNP has ensured that our economy will be in the doldrums for a long time to come.

Dennis Forbes Grattan,

3 Mugiemoss Road, Bucksburn, Aberdeen.

ASKING a famous contemporary author such as JK Rowling to endorse the named person scheme is worth a try, since other means to sweeten this pill of state over-reach have failed ("Move to ask JK Rowling to back named persons plan", The Herald, September 6).

However, another famous author condemned the scheme a century before it was proposed. Over to GK Chesterton:

“It is based on that strange new superstition, the idea of infinite resources of organisation. It is as if officials grew like grass or bred like rabbits. There is supposed to be an endless supply of salaried persons, and of salaries for them; and they are to undertake all that human beings naturally do for themselves; including the care of children ... The actual effect of this theory is that one harassed person has to look after a hundred children, instead of one normal person looking after a normal number of them. Normally that normal person is urged by a natural force, which costs nothing and does not require a salary; the force of natural affection for his young which exists even among the animals. If you cut off that natural force, and substitute a paid bureaucracy, you are like a fool who should pay men to turn the wheel of his mill, because he refused to use wind or water which he could get for nothing. You are like a lunatic who should carefully water his garden with a watering-can, while holding up an umbrella to keep off the rain.”

As the Scottish Government also struggles to recruit a vast army of childcare workers in order to further relieve parents of the responsibility to look after their own children, he clearly has a point.

Richard Lucas,

Leader of the Scottish Family Party,

272 Bath Street, Glasgow.