Readers' letters: Should we have a Scottish election?

I have just been watching the long-winded, dull and long overdue resignation speech from Nicola Sturgeon.

She should have gone after the Salmond enquiry shambles, in my opinion, and things have only gone downhill from there

I disagreed with much of her speech, particularly the part that claimed the SNP is “awash with talent” when it comes to choosing her successor. Clearly the FM has a totally different definition of the word ‘talent’ than a lot of us have.

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Over the last few months Sturgeon and her government were very critical of the Tories for putting in Liz Truss followed by Sunak as Prime Minister when they took over as party leaders. They apparently were unelected and had no mandate from the people to become Prime Minister.

Sturgeon herself, several times said there should be a general election so the British people can have a say on who takes over.

With that in mind, will there now be another Scottish election called so the Scottish people can have a say on who the next FM is or will this just be yet another double standard from the SNP?

Given the latest debacles with the gender reform and bottle recycle bills plus the polls showing a second independence referendum is further away than ever, I suspect there will be no election anytime soon.

David Smith, Prestonpans

Salmond should return as party leader

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I do believe that the only person capable of taking over as First Minister is Alex Salmond, who would have to abandon the Alba Party which is going nowhere and re-join the SNP party and be welcomed back by many SNP members.

Alex Salmond has all the experience needed for the job and is very good with people and has loads of charm and panache.

Dennis Forbes Grattan, Aberdeen

How do we judge Nicola’s tenure?

Nicola Sturgeon has always been honest with us about how important nationalism is to her.

She admits it's been her dream from teenage years to separate Scotland from the rest of the UK and that, for her, independence transcends everything.

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So how should dyed-in-the-wool separatists and indeed Sturgeon herself now judge her after her eight year tenure as Scotland's First Minister and leader of its nationalist movement? Pretty harshly, I'd suggest.

Martin Redfern, Melrose

Opposition to DRS is a load of rubbish

The uproar from certain quarters over Scotland’s proposed deposit refund scheme is bemusing.

Deposit refund schemes (DRS) are nothing new. Many countries, including ten in Europe, have had them for years. They incentivise customers to return containers to the retailer where the deposit is fully refunded. And return rates are high, ranging between 82 per cent in Estonia to 98 per cent in Germany.

Not only do DRS enhance collection and recovery rates for particular materials that can be reused and recycled, they also reduce litter. In countries with DRS, it’s common to see people collecting containers on beaches and roadsides.

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A walk around Edinburgh reveals empty drinks containers littering our pavements, parks and gutters. With a world awash in plastic, deposit refund schemes can make a small but meaningful contribution to cleaning up our environment.

So a word to the complainers – pipe down and get with the programme.

Leah Gunn Barrett, Edinburgh

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