TO listen to Theresa May last week suggesting in an interview that Nicola Sturgeon should concentrate on the day job was quite astonishing, given the appalling state of the public services under the control of the Westminster Government.

Scarcely a day goes by without yet another report of a crisis. We have learned of the relentless pressure on the English courts caused by underfunding.

Some 1,000 English headteachers in London have protested against the damaging impact of government cuts on their schools and the education of the children under their care.

The British Medical Association reports that the NHS in England is now facing a year-long crisis. Official data shows that waiting times, bed shortages and ambulance queues have hit record levels.

Prisons in England are overcrowded and, in the case of Birmingham jail, conditions were so bad that the Ministry of Justice was forced to take back control from the privately run jail.

Homelessness has risen by 169 per cent since 2010 and, yet, the Minister for Housing, James Brokenshire, denies that this has any connection with the dreadful figure of 78,000 people who last year had to be found temporary accommodation with the introduction of Universal Credit.

More than 1.3 million families are now dependent on food banks, of whom one in six are actually in paid employment.

Since 2010 the number of police and support staff in England has dropped by 44000.

In nine out of 10 reported crimes in England no-one is charged. More than four million children now live in poverty.

Of course, the Scottish Government has had to struggle to protect our public services but this must be seen against the background of annual cuts to the discretionary budget by Westminster that are estimated to be 7.4% between 2010 and the present day.

There are certainly problems here in Scotland but, surely, they are nothing compared with the scale of what is happening in England.

In normal times, such shocking figures would have seen the Labour party charging out of sight in opinion polls.

But, of course, with the catastrophe that is Brexit, these are not normal times.

The Conservative party has been highjacked by a right-wing group who are ideologically opposed to the European Union; hostile to a decently-funded welfare state; and wedded to the privatisation of public services.

The Labour party, meantime, has been successfully infiltrated by Momentum, the well-organised successor to the Militant Tendency of old.

The news that Derek Hatton, the left-wing former deputy leader of Liverpool council, claims to have rejoined the Labour party 33 years after being expelled by then leader Neil Kinnock pretty much says it all.

Mr Hatton says he had been inspired by Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership to reapply for membership.

What a mess it is.

Eric Melvin,

6 Cluny Place,

Edinburgh.