Scotland is not marginal any more

Contrast this with the message on Wednesday during the general election which is effectively: “Stay away, don’t meddle, you have no business trying to be a lever in our Westminster parliament.” And they say a week is a long time in politics. Six months is off the scale. I hope enough SNP candidates are elected today to comprise the third largest party at Westminster. Maybe even the extra, more voluble representation there will persuade some of us to never mind referendums, independence etc, because we are not marginal any more, but mainstream. It would be a nice change and might possibly have unforeseen consequences, you never know. Maybe the Union will become more of a union of equal partners. Mind you, I still think I’ll hold on to the dream Mr Salmond mentioned after the referendum last autumn. Ian Johnstone Forman Drive Peterhead In the present political and constitutional uncertainty there has been much discussion about voting strategy (Peter Jones, Perspective, 5 May). Head or heart? It is now neither of these. The Sturgeon factor is messianic. Her appeal is highly visual: the helicopter, the wardrobe and the palpably feminist demeanour are impressive enough but, in the eyes of the faithful her achievements are only just short of miraculous. She had turned dull democratic defeat into glorious victory for all the Yes voters, who flocked to the SNP banner in a fervour of admiration. Their despondency had been short-lived. It was a Lazarus moment, and mere mortals have no answer to it. Peter Laidlaw Bramdean Rise Edinburgh Our First Minister, not standing for Westminster, has pronounced as if reading from a tablet of stone that Scotland’s citizens have “24 hours to end austerity”. There are no signs of any storms forming on voting day – so no crock of gold at the end of the rainbow, which would be the only way there would be the extra funding needed. It’s also clear that she has really not got the whole UK’s best interests at heart; her MPs will have “Scotland’s interests at heart first last and always”. A fine way to end her triumphalist election campaign, contradicting her previous ameliorative approaches. Fiscal deficits and accumulated debt just cannot be wished away by diktat. Looking after Scotland’s citizens’ special interests is expected. Holyrood was set up to do just that, but suggesting that only the SNP MPs can do so at Westminster is a distortion even if there are not so many non-SNP Scottish MPs: a high percentage of the population do not support the SNP. It is undemocratic to propose ignoring them altogether. The SNP is not the sole Scottish voice. How does Ms Sturgeon propose to look after everyone else? Joe Darby Dingwall Ross-shire