Democracy in action

Sir, - Your correspondent John Dorward contends that Holyrood’s vote to seek a Section 30 order to facilitate a Scottish independence referendum lacks legitimacy as it was passed with the votes of the Green Party’s list MSPs.

If he is proposing that certain decisions are beyond the remit of MSPs elected by the party list system, then it follows that all such MSPs should be treated in a similar fashion.

However, if voting on constitutional issues was indeed restricted to firstpast-the-post constituency MSPs, the pro and anti-independence parties would line up as follows – SNP, 59; Conservative, seven; Labour, three; LibDems, four. This would result in an overwhelming mandate for the Scottish Government, overshadowing the result Mr Dorward finds so offensive.

Even if Holyrood used the first-past-the-post system, as Westminster does, the 49% vote achieved by the SNP in 2016 would have resulted in a result similar to the 2015 general election tsunami.

Labour’s Henry McLeish and Jack McConnell admitted that keeping the SNP at bay dictated the choice of Holyrood’s voting system.

The SNP’s subsequent successes are the result of Scots voting for them in such numbers as to break the politically engineered straitjacket designed to constrain any future Scottish independence aspirations.

This is democracy in action, with a resultant mandate deserving of respect. Ken Clark. 335 King Street, Broughty Ferry.