THERE is more than ever before the certainty that Westminster is not just unfit to hold sway over our country’s government, but is incapable of recognising its 312 years of failures and of even considering the future of Scotland other than as requiring us to abide quietly by the status-quo. The time is past for enumerating those failures and for emphasising the ideologies behind them. The whole of Scotland irrespective of party loyalties knows what these are.

The total failure of Westminster is evident from the desperate proposals,voiced by Jeremy Corbyn and by Jo Swinson, to unseat the Prime Minister, replacing him temporarily as advanced by the first of these by himself – and by either Harriet Harman or Ken Clarke as advanced by Swinson.

This to be enacted by MPs acting in unison and not on party lines. Pigs can fly after all!

How this would be achieved with or without the co-operation of the Speaker, and for how long, has not been part of their proposal – perhaps the importance and practicality of that has escaped their attention!

The sheer incompetence of the proposers of such “solutions” is incredible and very worrying, neither of whom show any sign of common sense and are influenced transparently, by party and personal ambition, despite claims of “national interest”. Swinson admitted at one point during her orchestrated press conference yesterday that she wants to be prime minister. Do we in Scotland really believe we do not deserve better?

The bare fact is that for Scotland it matters not who is prime minister, nor which party he or she represents. Each has nailed their colours to the mast – Scotland will require forever to accept whatever Westminster decides. A change of prime minister, even if such is engineered with the assistance of Scottish MPs, or a change of policy direction on matters of current importance, will bring no gain to Scotland. Only one change will alter that assertion, and it is now more than ever obvious and overdue.

J Hamilton
Bearsden

JO Swinson is true to her LibDem form when she served in the Clegg-Cameron coalition government with her refusal to join in cross-party activism against Johnson’s readiness to exit the EU come what may.

Obviously the very real prospect of terrible damage to the UK generally does not figure in her priorities. One can be excused for thinking that anyone in her position as a party leader would be expected to care about the permanence of the NHS, commitment to tackling the global warming crisis, protection of jobs and employment rights, economic wellbeing, food standards vigilance, and various other values and norms that most developed countries in Europe and elsewhere now take for granted.

All of this is at stake in a No-Deal Brexit. For a main UK party leader to spurn a cross-party arrangement in order to thwart Johnson’s over-the-cliff exit from Europe, this is both irresponsible and very petty. I would doubt that Vince Cable, her predecessor in office, would have behaved thus.

Let us not forget that Johnson is American, is on Trump’s approval list, and his warmongering national security adviser, John Bolton, has been having talks in the UK over the past few days with Johnson’s hardline Brexiteers.

Only the naive would believe that these meetings are for the good of the people of Britain, let alone the NHS, ensuring we continue to eat healthy food, our general economic well-being and all other values and norms that hitherto we have shared with our partners in Europe.

Ian Johnstone
Peterhead

SO Jo Swinson, the newest kid on the block, feels she can dictate who is in charge of the Labour Party?

What a presumption! The new kid on the block is really a bit naive! So if she does not get her “entitlement”, is she going to vote for a No Deal and fall in with the Johnsonite Tories?

Delusions of ubergrandeur from a small party at Westminster in UK terms! A wee mouth!

More of a squeak than a clout!

John Edgar
Kilmaurs

HOW about Dominic Grieve to lead an interim government of national unity? Yes, he is a Tory, but one that is putting national interest first, has much personal support for his stance on Brexit, is highly intelligent, has common sense and seems to have no overpowering, egotistical ambitions.

P Davidson
Falkirk

WHILST the whole discussion about Rev Campbell’s Wings Party is concentrating minds, including the contributions of Lesley Riddoch, Kevin McKenna and others in The National, this reminds me however of one recent historic event: Trump did not win through a majority of the public vote but through a drip drip campaign by Cambridge Analytica and others to put democrat supporters off coming out to vote for Hillary Clinton.

Are we in danger of falling into a similar trap?

Ulrich Fischer
Torrance

REGARDING Stu Campbell’s interesting proposition for a YES alliance for the next Scottish Parliament election can we all calm down a bit. At the moment we are going for an independence referendum next year – or earlier, if circumstances demand that. We will be contesting that as a YES alliance – as we did the last time.

If we lose that I’m off.

If we don’t go for one I’m off. In either of those circumstances the next Scottish Parliament election will be of no interest to me.

There is only one objective we should be concentrating on at the moment. A referendum.

David McEwan Hill
Sandbank, Argyll