WITH the Labour Party under the leadership of the Right Honourable Sir Keir Starmer, Knight Commander of the Order of Bath, now firmly ensconced in the middle ground of right-wing politics, can anyone be surprised by the Conservative Party’s rejection of frontrunner James Cleverly in favour of two candidates far to his right?
Why would the Conservative Party want to sit and scrap for votes on ground where Mr Cleverly is separated from Starmer by the thickness of the proverbial cigarette paper when they can carve out their own territory somewhere further to the right than both?
Thank you, Sir Keir, for pushing politics in England further to the right and ever more distant from the principles upon which your party was founded. No workers’ rights bill will bring back what has gone if it does not repeal one single clause of Thatcher’s legislative attack on the trade unions.
READ MORE: We need to bite the bullet and reform local and central government
Under your new legislation there may be improved rights for workers in some respects but the power still resides with the ruling class. Those rights are only upheld at the whim of the powerful and just as easily denied or withheld.
If Scotland does not regain its independence soon, we will be dragged down the slope and into the mire of right-wing politics from which there will be no easy return. The working class that founded the Labour Party will be destined to feed off crumbs and scraps handed down to them, and only then if the Labour Party is in government.
We are already seeing the impact of this on our push for social justice, with detrimental effects on the most needy people in our communities. Let’s put a stop to the rightward movement before it is too late by drawing a line that separates us and our principles from our neighbour and theirs.
Ni Holmes
St Andrews
THIS letter is written in Scotland, and appears on the pages of a Scottish newspaper flying a lone flag in supporting independence. Remember Scotland, a once proud and great country, alas now relegated to a region of the UK?
We are now a forgotten country and you don’t need to look very far to see why!
The Labour Party came into power and immediately consigned millions of pensioners to a winter of hell. It is only October but we are already layering up with extra clothes and God only knows what the next five or six months are going to be like.
Take that decision and then think of this. Freeloaders Mr Gloom and Mrs Doom say there is no money and then proceed to do things like putting vast sums of money into HS2 and supposedly building an HS2 line from Birmingham to Manchester.
They are putting lots of money into carbon capture in areas of England and are also bankrolling electric bus manufacturers in Oxford and Ballymena. They are also spending shed-loads of money on border control and GB Energy.
I could go on, but there is one inescapable fact in all of this big-budget spending and that surely must be obvious to all of you! None of this money will benefit Scotland in any way, shape or form. Scotland, a forgotten country being sidelined and run into the ground by Westminster.
No accident here, but a long-running and continual process that is being carried on by this rotten-to-the-core Labour Government. Is it not time Holyrood, while it still has an independence majority, takes these charlatans on! We cannot go on like this. Can we please have some fight from the SNP instead of just taking all the manure that is being dumped on us?
We seem to be waiting on the Chancellor telling us how much we are going to get in the block grant so we can work out whether we can afford this or that. What a thoroughly depressing thought that is.
We deserve better. Time for the forgotten country to stand up and fight for our very existence or we will never ever move forward. There are many who would think that just fine and dandy but the people of Scotland must stand up and be counted or all is lost! We need someone to lead from the front.
Old John
Ayrshire
IN response to M Ross’s letter (Oct 9) in response to my letter (Oct 7) I’m totally up for a slogan competition. “Up Thine Westminster” (UTW) has a certain cachet. How about “Up Thine Imperialists” (UTI)? In any event, we’d need to decide on a prize. Dark chocolate for me and maybe – I dunno – Holyrood for Scotland?
And while we’re doing silly acronyms (or at least I am), I think we need to initiate G.O.S.T protocol for the Holyrood elections. G.O.S.T = GET OUR SHIT TOGETHER.
Warm socks and comradeship to you poor sods up in Aviemore.
(I attend Musselburgh branch, which as we all know is the best SNP branch.) Amanda Baker Edinburgh SUE Gray is never far from the news headlines these days, for all the wrong reasons. As the UK Government envoy for the nations and regions, one would have assumed her presence at the first meeting of this body, held in Edinburgh, would be essential.
Not so. But then, Ms Gray was not the only one to be conspicuous by her absence because the leaders of Scotland’s 32 local authorities were not even invited, yet England’s mayors were all round the table.
Something is just not right there. If we are to achieve better dialogue going forward between the new Labour Government and the devolved nations, then surely this body has got off on the wrong footing.
Catriona C Clark
Banknock, Falkirk
THE sham of the Council of the Nations and Regions is so obviously a stitch-up by Labour. We have 12 English voices and four from NI, Scotland and Wales.
If Starmer wants the opinion of the English regions, he should meet them. He should then meet the devolved nations so they can discuss issues and make decisions equally.
The FM should boycott this charade and convince NI and Wales to do the same.
Rab Doig
Bo’ness
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