HAVING listened to Jo Swinson, the new “kid” on the block, talking about her standing to be the next PM, one begins to wonder who has delusions of grandeur? Most of her posturing sounds like a S6 pupil at a school debate. Cringeworthy to say the least! “I can be the next PM”. Dream on!

Is this the best the LibDems can put up? Jo Swinson cannot even outline her programme for PM, so what is her shtick? A wee party with a wee cadre of former Tory MPs and a few opt-outs from Labour. Her insistence that she would not cooperate with Corbyn must mean that she is going to regress to bring a Tory-helper? What is left?

READ MORE: General Election: Three times Jo Swinson’s LibDems misled voters

It is surely time for the party members in the LibDems to inject some sanity into its policy-making. However, when one hears Willie Rennie posturing and advising Labour in Scotland not to bother contesting the election, one can only cringe! Double cringe all round!

It looks like the LibDems will be going back to their constituencies to prepare for a reality check. In her infinite stupidity and drawing from the shallow wells of her experience to date, Swinson declares the other two main UK parties are not fit to govern. Methinks she had better add a third, namely her own, and more to the point, her own person as a politician.

North of the Tweed we know that the UK parties are unfit and do not meet Scotland’s needs. That is why they are in the minority here, with few MPs in the last Westminster Parliament, and have not formed a government at Holyrood for years.

John Edgar
Kilmaurs

I HAVE to thank Kris Murray Browne for his insightful letter (November 4) as regards voting in the upcoming General Election, and credit him with changing my mind.

I tend to vote for the Scottish Greens as a matter of principal and intended to do so again next month, especially as I usually eschew tactical voting. However, as Kris explains, in December’s first-past-the-post General Election, a vote for anyone other than the SNP will only help to dilute the independence message.

As a political party geared for electioneering, I can understand that the Greens feel the need to fight their corner, but there may be an argument for keeping their powder dry for this particular election, just as Sinn Fein are doing in Northern Ireland. If, as we all hope, voting in the General Election for the SNP will bring about independence, then that is what we must do – like it or lump it.

After independence I think the Scottish Greens will really come into their own. With the talent the party has, such as Patrick Harvie and Ross Greer, they have the potential to become one of the major parties, if not the major party, in an independent Scotland.

Solomon Steinbett
Maryhill, Glasgow

I MUST respond to Donald Anderson’s letter (and others) criticising the Scottish Greens for daring to stand candidates at this election.

First, a few facts:

1. Donald is wrong – Patrick Harvie didn’t lose his deposit in the 2017 election.

2. Scottish Greens are contesting fewer than half of the 59 seats in Scotland.

3. Local Green branches decide whether or not to stand a candidate – not the party leadership.

4. In 2017, nearly half a million of the 2015 SNP voters stayed at home and didn’t vote for anyone. Whose fault was that?

Talk of “splitting the vote” assumes that there’s a fixed number of votes to be divided up between the parties. That’s nonsense, as point five demonstrates. The key to winning is turnout – getting your own voters out to vote rather than stay at home.

Also, many Green voters wouldn’t necessarily vote SNP if there wasn’t a Green candidate. Some would vote Labour or LibDem, and some wouldn’t vote at all. The SNP feeling entitled to Green votes reminds me of the mistake Scottish Labour made before their downfall. No party is entitled to votes, they must be earned.

This pointless bitter griping at the Greens is counter-productive, as it makes SNP supporters look fanatical, putting off some undecideds from voting SNP. It also puts off Green supporters, many of whom do vote SNP at Westminster elections even when there’s a Green candidate.

Getting out campaigning to win back the missing half a million SNP votes should be the top priority for SNP supporters, rather than wasting effort criticising the Greens for getting a few thousand. The SNP is big enough to pull in enough extra votes to easily outweigh a few lost to the Greens – if it runs a good campaign.

SNP supporters – please get out and campaign positively for your party if you want to win. See you on the doorsteps.

Steve West
Edinburgh

I THOROUGHLY enjoyed Alyn Smith’s article (Our message of hope will help us kick out the Tories, November 6) as it highlights many of the positive innovations that are ongoing on our doorstep, eg Made in Stirling.

The people I meet are sick and tired of the doom and gloom being peddled by the Brexiteers and want to continue being part of the EU with all the benefits that full membership brings.

The problem for the Unionist parties is that without exception they demand that their Scottish MPs follow the party line set by London headquarters irrespective of the needs and wishes of their constituents.

This was glaringly obvious when every one of them supported Boris Johnson’s Brexit proposals in spite of the fact that Scotland voted to remain.

It would appear this approach is not attracting bright people who have principles, are able to think for themselves and want to contribute positively to the ongoing development of their country – Scotland!

Thomas L Inglis
Fintry