Tories don’t stand up for Scotland Lights can answer traffic issues

In a delayed reply to Luke Graham’s political opinion column (PA, June 15) may I start by congratulating him on his country’s win against Tunisia, a subject to which I shall return.

Mr Graham took a pot-shot at the SNP because of the events at prime minister’s question time, when the SNP group leader was excluded and the group walked out en masse.

He described PMQs as “... one of the most important political sessions of our democracy”.

Anybody who has watched the show (that’s what it is) knows it to be a Keystone Cops knockaround session with questions mostly unanswered unless they are “planted”.

You can tell a planted question by a Tory MP standing up and saying “does my honourable friend agree with me...”, knowing full well she does, because the question and answer have been agreed to in advance.

Each week in turn, one of the Tory contingent from Scotland will ask a planted question about something or other in Scotland and Theresa May will then use the answer as an attack on the SNP.

The Tory Gang, Luke Graham included, give their loyalty to London, not Scotland.

The SNP walk-out was not pre-planned, but it came about as a result of the events of the evening before. On the EU Withdrawal Bill, Clause 15 (referring to the London government taking control for seven years of certain devolved matters returning from the EU – therefore important to Scotland) a grand total of 15 minutes was allowed.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the Tory minister, David Lidington, spoke for the whole time and nobody else, not one single Scottish MP, got a chance to speak.

Did we hear Luke Graham and his pals protest at not getting a chance to speak? Of course not. The knock-on effect from the SNP leaving the chamber the next day led to a debate on Tuesday this week where the Tories from Scotland plus one or two others were outnumbered by those on the opposition benches.

I delayed a response to his column until I heard this debate.

When it came to the vote the Tories won by 88 to 51. Next up was a debate on mental health and the Tory minister leading it stood up and started by expressing his delight at the timing of the debate – it allowed English MPs to watch the England match -and finished after the game ended, so they could go and vote.

Mr Graham promises that he will never storm out of the Commons as long as he is an MP. I totally believe him. To do so would mean acting and thinking for himself, something Tories don’t do. Thomas R Burgess St Catherine’s Sq, Perth I read with interest about the traffic problems and parking spaces in Perth, neither of which are of any benefit to the businesses in the town.

I know little of traffic management, but I was once informed that one of the best ways of easing congestion in cities is the use of “green wave” traffic systems, whereby the lights, particularly on the main routes, are synchronised to prevent stop-start (and pollution) and create a better flow of traffic.

I once experienced this heading north out of New York, where we travelled some five miles on a straight road with over 30 signals, and not one was at red.

Worth some consideration. Ian Cameron, via email