SNP has proud record governing Scotland - your views

"The unionist parties’ only goal is to stifle our ambitions for a fairer and more successful Scotland”

SNP has proud record governing Scotland

Amid all the media noise about the new list party Alba (Reminder 1 - no-one is obliged to vote for Alba’s candidates on May 6!) and the relentless criticism in the press about the supposed ‘anti-democratic’ SNP government (Reminder 2 – they were elected by Scottish voters at the last election!), it is worth a quick reminder about the achievements of Scotland’s government in the last 14 years, led by both Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond.

Progressive Scottish government measures on: free prescriptions; free personal care for the elderly; abolition of college tuition fees; equal start (baby boxes); ‘period poverty’ (free feminine hygiene products); commitment to child payments and school holiday meals (to name a few), have made a real and welcome difference to the vast majority of ordinary Scots.

They also highlight the mean-spirited nature of the equivalent arrangements for our neighbours in England, and like many I am thankful that I live in a Scotland where our government prioritises the well-being of its citizens, over the interests of wealth and power,as in the rest of the UK.

Unlike Westminster, the SNP government is also committed to no privatisation of the Scottish NHS, a decent (four per cent) pay-rise for NHS staff and in this year of COP26 in Glasgow, to world-class legislation on a non-nuclear renewable energy future for our country, to support the global fight against devastating climate change.

It is difficult to imagine a Holyrood administration led by Messrs Ross, Sarwar or Rennie delivering even a fraction of these things, given their unionist obsession with keeping Scotland locked inside the increasingly shabby UK at any cost.

Mr D Jamieson, Newington, Edinburgh.

For they are jolly good Fellows

I was interested in your report that Professor Devi Sridhar has been made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

It seems only last summer that the professor was predicting provisionally that Scotland might be Covid-free, all being well, before the end of summer. The summer of 2020 that was! I note wryly too that Vincent Deighan, comic book artist, has also been honoured by the RSE. I am sure the accolade to him is equally well deserved .

Gus Logan, York Road, North Berwick.

Coalition dilemma for Scottish Greens

Who would have thought the Greens would be faced with the dilemma, who to follow, the ex-First Minister or the current First Minister?

Seeing what the Greens are made of I would think they will be split down themiddle, but before an elec-tion Alba versus SNP is the dream match other parties have been waiting for.

Undoubtedly it will split the vote and it is difficult to see which of the other parties could command enough support to form a majority. It would be a wise man who could predict the outcome of this election.

The Greens will do anything to sit at the top table so they will side with anyone that offers coalition.

Finlay G Mackintosh, Lochview, Forres.

Nuclear option

Campaigners for Scotland to leave the UK say that secession is the answer to the problem of nuclear weapons. How could it be?

Leaving the UK will not reduce the number of nuclear weapons. They will still be based somewhere on this island and Scotland will still be in a target in the event of nuclear attack. The sensible way is to vote in a UK government which will commit to disarmament.

Les Reid, Edinburgh.