DAVID Torrance sets out a number of challenges for the SNP between now and the Scottish Parliament elections in 2021 (“Once independence momentum is lost, it’s fiendishly difficult to regain”, The Herald, June 12).

The first challenge, independence, Mr Torrance describes as now a vote loser, but there is a difference between saying that a referendum is a matter for the future, as a lot of voters appear to have done, and saying that advocating independence of itself was a political liability. It is, as Ruth Davidson has said, an honourable objective and one which she does not expect the SNP to give up. Timing in politics, as in other aspects of life, is often critical and I don’t see a great political problem in deferring a referendum, at least until the consequences of Brexit become apparent. It will be, after all, the biggest economic and foreign policy change (or blunder) for more than 60 years.

Mr Torrance mentions the “nationalist trope” that Scotland doesn’t vote Tory. As we know, the General Election in Scotland produced a 29 per cent vote for the Conservatives, but it was as a party in single-issue protest mode rather than one offering a range of policies on economic and social issues. It is on those issues that Scotland has, in recent history, relegated the Conservatives to a minor role. In other words, the Conservative vote in Scotland was, as the party acknowledged itself, a coalition of opinion on a specific issue. It seems a shaky basis on which to argue that the Conservative brand is now restored to significant electoral favour.

Brexit may well be a challenge for the SNP, as Mr Torrance says, but it is a much greater challenge for the Conservative Party, both within its own ranks and, for the UK minority government, with the EU negotiators.

The EU is still a rock on which the party could break.

Finally, Mr Torrance mentions the challenge of “the Scottish Government’s domestic record”. It is a bit of a stretch to say that SNP ministers can no longer pitch themselves as a “competent” administration. There is some time to go until the next Scottish Parliament elections and it is much too soon to judge some crucial policies in education and in health and social care, for example.

I would much rather have the SNP’s challenges than those of any of the opposition parties.

Councillor Alasdair Rankin (SNP),

City of Edinburgh Council, City Chambers, Edinburgh.

IT is hard to believe that Tory MPs gave Theresa May a rapturous reception with table-banging and cheering when she attended the 1922 Committee meeting on Monday evening (“Davidson: PM must reach out to rivals in Brexit talks”, The Herald, June 13). After her dreadful personal performance during the election campaign and the very narrow result, I would have thought a modest hand-clap was the best she could have expected or deserved.

She has now been forced to rely on a deal with the unpleasant and out-of-date Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland to give her a very slim majority in critical House of Commons votes. I wonder if Ruth Davidson pointed out to her at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting that it is only the presence of 12 more Scottish Conservative MPs that has made it possible to achieve that majority even with DUP support.

With the Brexit negotiations due to start next week, running in parallel with many fraught debates and tight votes in the Commons, I cannot see Mrs May lasting as Prime Minister for more than a few months at most. Nor can I see her or her successor, whoever that may be, achieving any sort of acceptable deal with the experienced and well-prepared EU negotiating team.

I’m afraid the UK is in for a very long period of economic decline, largely due to our Government’s incompetence and our wrong decisions in referendums and General Elections.

Iain AD Mann,

7 Kelvin Court,

Glasgow.

SO Mrs May has apologised to her Conservative backbenchers and says she created this mess and she will get “us” out of it.

As Prime Minister it should be her duty to apologise to the country and duly resign. I have never known such an incompetent and unconvincing PM.

Willie Towers,

Victoria Road, Alford, Aberdeenshire.

ALEX Salmond’s quote from Walter Scott’s poem was totally inappropriate (Letters, June 13). Bonnie Dundee’s threat and boast on departure did not come true; he died at the Battle of Killiecrankie. Bonnie Dundee was a Tory. Thus Alex Salmond offered an epilogue, not a prediction. He should have done a little homework. Perhaps that is what he is now doing.

William Durward,

20 South Erskine Park,

Bearsden.

I AM grateful to Dr Hamish Maclaren for highlighting the extent to which political proceedings in the UK have moved into the realm of “high farce” (Letters, June 13). This is very opportune. Along with several like-minded colleagues, I am about to launch a new political movement – the Schadenfreude Party. We anticipate considerable cross-party support, as there are many closet Schadenfreudistas, and no less a figure than George Osborne has been very vocal in our cause. The response from our contacts in Europe has also been hugely positive.

We are about to launch a crowd-funding appeal shortly – probably to coincide with the beginning of Brexit negotiations – but the greatest difficulty in our preparations is getting any practical work done. We just can’t stop laughing.

Dr Angus Macmillan,

Georgetown Road,

Dumfries.

OK. They include a few cowboys, but both baddies and goodies. So, it’s clearly unfair to tar all politicians – from those representing your own council ward to those acting on a world stage – with the same brush.

Perhaps reflecting this wide range of individuals and roles, no established collective noun for politicians springs to mind. (Owls nabbed “parliament”, way back.)

I have a couple of proposals. First, our elected representatives will surely like “a serving of politicians”.

Alternatively, given recent events from council coalitions, and Westminster wobbles, to global warming pacts, the wider populace might endorse “a self-serving of politicians”.

Martin McGeehan,

Flat 3/1, 108 Cloch Road,

Gourock.