No place for party politics

Sir, - Your correspondent Hazel McKinnon is correct when she states that party politics should have no place in council elections. Local councillors should only be concerned with what is best for their local electorate and not what their party allegiance tells them to do. Time for party politics to be removed from local elections? Bob Duncan. 110 Caesar Avenue, Carnoustie.

Sir, - Opposition politicians accuse Theresa May of running scared because she will not engage in TV debates.

I can’t be alone in wishing all the leaders would boycott debates.

They shed heat but no light, and degenerate into slanging matches, especially if Nicola Sturgeon is involved.

But why should Nicola Sturgeon be involved? She is not a candidate in the general election. Is Carwyn Jones to be involved in the debates? I don’t think so. Surely the SNP representative should be the depute leader and leader of the SNP group of MPs, Angus Robertson?

This is the same Angus Robertson whom Mrs May swats at PMQs. And why Jeremy Corbyn wants to debate with Mrs May is a mystery, given that he routinely sends Emily Thornberry to interviews in his stead.

The best test of leaders’ policies and mettle is to face individually a serious and well-prepared interviewer. The only name that comes to mind for that role is the outstanding Andrew Neil. Jill Stephenson. Glenlockhart Valley, Edinburgh.

It is time for unionists to understand that almost half of Scotland rejects their narrow narrative of what Scots want and that many Scots will not buy back into their limited vision policies

Theresa May