You're wasting your breath Mr Swinney: who needs another conversation?
Independence activists are right to be worried. There's no economic plan. The White Paper is long forgotten, the Growth Commission dumped, and nothing credible has taken their place. Meanwhile, they rage at Brexit for damaging 17% of Scottish trade, while pushing for separation from the UK, which accounts for over 60%. The hypocrisy would be comic if the consequences weren't so serious.
And then there was the toxic alliance with the Scottish Greens, a partnership that's alienated voters and dragged the Government into the mire of money-losing projects and culture wars. No wonder turnout among independence supporters is collapsing. People have switched off.
The truth is, the movement is exhausted. The SNP has run out of ideas, out of talent, and – soon – out of time. Even its most loyal backers are beginning to see it.
Scotland doesn't need another 'conversation'. It needs a government focused on real priorities, not constitutional daydreams. Voters are waking up to that and not bothering to vote and those who do are switching to Reform and Labour. It's time for Mr Swinney to find his slippers and put his feet up before he is unceremoniously shown the door.
Ian Lakin, Aberdeen.
Pretence from the First Minister
Presenting you and your party as an attractive proposition after 18 years of questionable performance in power is no easy feat. What you most need is some standout out successes that stick in the public consciousness ('Bid to oust Swinney just self-indulgent rubbish, says ex-MP', The Herald, June 18).
Yet for the SNP's own core supporters as well as undecided voters and those committed to countering nationalist rhetoric, what stands out most about the SNP's time in power are largely the negatives. Missing the targets they set for themselves in healthcare, education and the environment. Wasting huge amounts of public funds on mismanaged forays into running businesses. Failing to make meaningful progress in critical areas of concern from drug deaths to the attainment gap in education.
Read more letters
As for independence, John Swinney chose to return to it at the Scotland 2050 conference as his preferred go-to solution for all that is wrong in Scotland. Otherwise, he would be left with having to try to defend the indefensible, namely the SNP's numerous mistakes and missteps in over 18 years of trying to run Scotland.
In his two keynote speeches over the last couple of days John Swinney has effectively asked the people of Scotland to join him in pretending that the SNP is not the main problem, but rather that he and his government are going to start doing things so much better in the future and that in any case most problems would be eased if only we would turn our backs on our fellow UK citizens.
The difficulties encountered in leaving the EU have provided an abject lesson of how problematic it can be to achieve the many claims of those promoting walking away from a union. Leaving the much deeper and longer-standing interdependence within the UK holds greater risks and challenges. John Swinney hopes we do not think too much about all of that and instead join him in his comforting pretence.
Keith Howell, West Linton.
• After the 2024 General Election, in which the SNP lost heavily, Stephen Flynn said: 'It's a time for reflection, it's a time to listen'. John Swinney said 'the party failed to convince people". But lo and behold, less than a year after this defeat they are now saying 'independence is within reach' and 'we want to be a nation state in our own right'.
They obviously haven't reflected very much or listened if they are now churning out the same old mantra on independence again.
Jim Robertson, Glasgow.
Decolonise Scotland
How is Scotland's return to being a sovereign nation to be achieved and its preferences tested? In April Kathleen Nutt stated that a border poll for Ireland would be triggered by opinion polling, quoting a Northern Ireland minister. We know that in Scotland no matter how many seats Scottish pro-independence parties win, that senior (English) politicians have repeatedly proclaimed a referendum would not be granted by them while in office. Why wouldn't polling in Scotland mandate an independence referendum just as it does in that other part of the UK, and would the judiciary agree that Scotland being prohibited amounted to discrimination?
Scotland is already at 54% in favour of independence and rising, just as the UK appears to be heading for a period of political chaos and instability. I personally now think a new referendum would not be helpful to anyone, given the constitutionally partisan nature of the vast majority of the media which operates in Scotland: it would engender long-lasting angst and outrage over perceptions about bias and fairness. Perhaps, like many other components of the Empire, Scotland could simply morph into independence if it wanted to, with a reasonable proportion of our citizens in favour.
We can also look at the recent argument from distinguished historians in England which claims no union ever took place; 'Scotland' was extinguished and a Greater England was formed (or Scotland was added to the English Empire). So we need to decolonise Scotland.
GR Weir, Ochiltree.
What planet is CalMac on?
Once again I do not know whether I should write to the Editor or the Diary, as you report today that an engineer is being flown in from Norway to fix the ailing MV Caledonian Isles' troublesome gearboxes ("Caledonian Isles return delayed as specialist flies in from Norway", heraldscotland, June 18). He will wonder what planet he has arrived on or perhaps think he has ventured into a working museum.
He will return to Norway with lots of stories about overcrowding on CalMac ferries, and that's just the crew. It will be something like the spacemen in Cadbury's Smash advert from the 1970s.
"And they take their ferries... and they run them until they rust away... hahahaha... and they fill them with more crew than passengers... hahahahaha... and they build them too big for their harbours... hahahahaha... and they paint windows on them... hahahahaha... and then launch them with wooden funnels... hahahahaha... and they take eight years to build... hahahaha... and they cost £250 million each... hahahahahaha... and they are building electric ferries that can't be charged... hahahaha..."
Peter Wright, West Kilbride.
The MV Caledonian Isles (Image: Newsquest)
How to stop the boats
You report that French Police Nationale, apparently tooled up in riot gear, fired tear gas at migrants waiting on sand dunes for small boats to appear ("Tear gas deployed against migrants", The Herald, June 18 ). This is both unpleasant and pointless as these police then simply stand around watching the migrants as they wade waist-deep into the shallows to wait there for a small boat to appear to take them across the Channel.
Keir Starmer has said it is the 'duty" of his government to stop the small boats, but these half-hearted procedures by the French will never achieve that. Nor will faffing about trying and failing to 'smash the gangs" through ineffective international cooperation. What the PM is faced with is essentially a matter of supply (the gangs) and demand (the migrants). The solution is to remove the demand and the supply will go also.
All Keir Starmer needs to do is to take resolute action here in the UK by legislating that anyone breaking our law by arriving here illegally would be disqualified automatically from staying here. They would be detained securely until deported, presumably back to France. That would send a clear message that attempting to cross the Channel in the small boats would be pointless, removing both demand and supply.
Alan Fitzpatrick, Dunlop.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
17 minutes ago
- Times
John Swinney in talks to avoid sending waste to England
Truckloads of Scottish waste being sent to England may be stopped after the first minister admitted that a scheme to ban landfill sites north of the border may need to be delayed. A ban on rubbish being sent to Scottish landfill sites, due to come into force at the start of next year, covers most domestic and commercial waste. However, Scotland does not have enough incinerators to cope with the surge in demand that the policy will cause. Experts have said that up to 100 truckloads of Scotland's waste will instead need to be moved down south, seven days a week, for a year from January once the ban begins. Speaking to journalists at Holyrood, John Swinney said he was in dialogue with local authorities to avoid the situation of sending truckloads of waste south of the border, but he failed to rule out a further delay to the landfill scheme.
The National
29 minutes ago
- The National
SNP councillor forces Labour to take action against Israeli arms sales
SNP councillor Naz Anis-Miah's pro-Palestinian motion was passed by Fife Council despite opposition from the ruling minority Labour administration. Labour councillors dropped their amendment to the motion halfway through the debate. The full motion called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, an end to UK arms sales to Israel, a commitment to upholding international law, and support for increased humanitarian aid to the region. READ MORE: Scottish Labour drop below Alba and Greens in Highlands by-election It also committed the leader of Fife Council, Labour councillor David Ross, to write to Keir Starmer, Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds over ending arms exports and instead increasing humanitarian aid. 'Obviously [Benjamin] Netanyahu and Israel are not going to listen to what Fife Council are going to say, but what Fife Council can do is apply pressure to the British government,' Anis-Miah told The National. The debate on the motion was held on Thursday, with councillors going back and forth over Labour's amendment which Anis-Miah said would have 'watered down' the SNP's motion. Speaking in the Chamber, Anis-Miah (below) told fellow councillors: 'We can't claim to champion human rights abroad while fuelling destruction with our exports. 'We can't preach peace while we enable war. We cannot turn a blind eye to the death of innocent children while our industries build machines that kill them. If we can't stop the bombs let's stop building them. If we can't end the war let's refuse to fuel it. (Image: SNP) 'If we can't undo the suffering, let us not be the ones who prolong it. I urge every member of this chamber to support the motion. "Let's send a clear message to the Prime Minister and Westminster that the people of Fife and Scotland will not be complicit in supplying arms that cause genocide.' Ross told councillors that members of the Labour group were still 'uncomfortable' with some parts of the motion. 'I think undoubtedly we are all horrified and really totally concerned about what is going on and we recognise the need to make a statement,' he added. 'In the interests of speaking with one voice from the council we're prepared to withdraw our amendment with a slight concession on the wording from the SNP motion.' The SNP group agreed to remove a call for the motion to be shared with Cosla and other councils across Scotland. READ MORE: UK scrambles to charter flights out of Israel for British citizens 'We're comfortable that we can share it with our Cosla delegates at the SNP Council group nationwide, and we've also obviously got a network of Councilors across the country, so we're comfortable that we'll share the motion ourselves,' Anis-Miah explained. We previously told how in the last quarter of 2024, the Labour Government licensed exports of more military equipment to Israel than the Tories did for all of 2020-2023 combined. This led to Lammy claiming that The National's article was 'clickbait' as he dismissed the report, which was based on UK Government figures. Several high profile celebrities, including Paolo Nutini and Ncuti Gatwa, have joined calls urging Starmer to suspend arm sales to Israel.
Edinburgh Reporter
34 minutes ago
- Edinburgh Reporter
Senior Edinburgh councillors back giving themselves a pay hike
Senior Edinburgh councillors have backed giving themselves a pay hike, with only one member speaking out in opposition. In February, Edinburgh Council agreed to freeze pay for senior councillors – including political group leaders and committee conveners – at the previous year's levels. But at Thursday's meeting all political groups except the SNP voted in favour of raising pay for senior councillors, with most getting an uplift of £4,637 to their annual pay packets – an 11.6% jump. Council committee conveners, as well as the SNP, Conservative and Liberal Democrat group leaders, will all get £4,637 added to their annual pay, bringing them to £44,644 per year, up from £40,027 from the previous year. And the depute council leader, Labour's Mandy Watt, will also get a £4,637 pay hike, bringing her total compensation to £52,669, up from £48,032 before. A council spokesperson said the increase in pay for senior councillors was intended to match the pay hike given to non-senior councillors by the Scottish Government. While local authorities have the power to set the pay of senior councillors, the rates for all other councillors are set by the Scottish Government, including the council's leader and Lord Provost, based on the fidings of the Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee (SLARC). Earlier this year, it mandated that the salary for most councillors be raised to £25,982 per year, up £4,637 from their previous pay of £21,345, which stood unchanged for several years. Labour councillor and council leader Jane Meagher is paid £71,519 per year, while Lord Provost Robert Aldridge is paid £53,640. Depute council leader, Labour councillor Mandy Watt, said: 'I sat down and read the guidance, and it does say that in your approach to this, you should be doing councillor remuneration from the bottom up, not the top down. 'I very much appreciate the support that I've had [from officers] to get all this together.' An SNP source said: 'Councillors have been chronically underpaid for decades, and normally I'd take the view that we remunerate the position held, rather than the individual holding it. 'But the current crop of administration conveners are so inept that we could not support them getting a pay hike.' A council spokesperson said: 'While we don't set the rates of pay for non-senior councillor roles it's appropriate that we publish them and provide elected members with the opportunity to scrutinise rates for full transparency. 'The increase in Senior Councillors' remuneration was agreed by Council yesterday, and now includes the increase to the Councillor basic pay set by the Scottish Government.' Only one member, Labour councillor Katrina Faccenda, spoke out against the pay hikes. She said: 'I think you should take note of which councillors are getting extra money, and you should work out whether you are getting value for money from those councillors. 'Since this is public money, and I don't think anyone in here would support the misuse of public money, I'd ask the public to have a look at that, and work out if they think that in Edinburgh Council, the extra money they have to spend to subsidise councillors is being used in the right way.' Cllr Faccenda, who will not financially benefit from the pay increase for senior councillors, voted to support the hike. Meanwhile, independent councillor Ross McKenzie voted with the SNP to oppose the pay hike. Green co-convener, councillor Chas Booth, said: 'Greens think it is right that people are paid appropriately for the work they do, and we welcomed the recommendations of the Scottish Local Authority Remuneration Committee around councillors' salaries. 'Pay is a significant barrier to people from marginalised groups entering politics, and if we want to see more diversity in our councillors to reflect the rich diversity of the communities we serve, then we need to ensure people without independent income can become elected representatives. 'However, we acknowledge that while so many people in Edinburgh continue to face a cost-of-living crisis caused by years of austerity which is now being continued by the Labour government at Westminster, the Labour council administration doesn't feel that big increases in senior councillor pay were not appropriate. 'Therefore Green councillors were happy to support their proposals around this.' By Joseph Sullivan Local Democracy Reporter Like this: Like Related
