General election loss is chance for Sturgeon to show SNP really care about Scots

What needs to be done to arrest the downward trajectory in SNP fortunes after the general election result? The first thing is to recognise the scale of the setback and not simply seek the consolation of stating that it did win 35 seats. The size of swings against the party in the northeast, not least in former first minister Alex Salmond’s patch in Gordon, were enormous. Elsewhere the size of majorities has been reduced to the few thousands, in some cases the few hundreds, making the party vulnerable to even a small swing if another general election is called. The need for a new narrative is paramount. It may only be a matter of months before we are called again to the polls. The time for platitudes is over and the case for reform now urgent.

The immediate challenge for Nicola Sturgeon is to devise a suitable form of words to make clear that a second independence referendum is now not the highest priority. The highest priority is to use the SNP’S strengthened position in the House of Commons (for that, ironically, is what has happened) to secure the best possible deal for Scotland in the Brexit negotiations. It needs to revitalise its publicity machine to stress that the party is the one best placed to stand up for Scotland’s interests. That same machine has to get across the impression, indeed help create the reality, that the SNP is genuinely interested in matters ordinary voters care about: jobs, health, education, prosperity in fishing and agriculture, tourism, the arts, the way the country is presented abroad. Ms Sturgeon is faced once again with a test of leadership. She cannot afford to let her party down.

BOB TAYLOR Shiel Court, Glenrothes I was back in my ancestral Dumfries and Galloway and watching with some trepidation the results of the recent General Election. Scotland has once more led from the front and enhanced the political balance of the whole UK. Scotland has shown the way to the policy changes that must be implemented in the Conservative Party at Westminster and has greatly emboldened the Labour ranks under Jeremy Corbyn, aiding the return of an effective opposition. For one very small country, this is great.

However, let us not forget that the fiasco of the latest indyref2 request cannot be explained simply by saying that the timing was not right. As much as Mrs May put the Conservative party before this country, Ms Sturgeon did the very same thing with the SNP. The reasons were different but they both put party and party policy before country. They both also paid heavily for it on the day and will again in the days to come. The unionist vote is now back and the exuberance of the SNP vote tempered quite severely.

I do not think a one-party state is in any way healthy for any of the constituent members of the UK and, gladly, I am not alone. I am surprised Ms Sturgeon looked despondent at the SNP losses. I trust, however, that, outwith the loss of her guru, Mr Salmond, that she only affected the sad look. The 2015 result for the SNP was an aberration of our electoral process. It’s a numbers game and it will always change. Anyone knows once you are up, the only way is down. I truly hope Ms Sturgeon knew this as well, as with that knowledge she will need no time to reflect on anything if she has such a thought on board. She can get straight back to governing Scotland and to getting the kids educated in the manner to which us Jocks are accustomed. (DR) JN BALFOUR-MCKIE

The Well House Wenhaston, Suffolk

Former SNP minister Kenny Macaskill (Perspective, 12 June) comments on the closed shop at the top of his party. It is being suggested elsewhere that the seeming madness of the First Minister in blindly pursuing a second referendum – when every indication screamed it was a non-starter for the vast majority of Scots – was being prompted by Alex Salmond.if this is true, and with Mr Salmond now out of the picture and his Svengalilike influence gone, we can perhaps now see the First Minister and SNP in general focus their attention on the day job.

ALEXANDER MCKAY New Cut Rigg, Edinburgh Keith Howell (Letters 12 June) asks whether Nicola Sturgeon “will decide to use a parliamentary majority to trump the will of the people”. It’s an odd take on democracy when a parliamentary majority is considered to have no relation to the will of the people.

On the same day Alexander Mckay, in a throwback that even ardent Unionists abandoned long ago as nonsensical, says Scotland is no longer a one-party state.

It seem that the creation of the Scottish Parliament has passed Mr Mckay by. For the sake of clarity, in the Scottish parliament the SNP have 63 seats; the Conservatives 31; Labour have 24 seats; the Greens have six seats and the Liberal Democrats have five. I think that makes Scotland a five-party state.

GILL TURNER Derby Street, Edinburgh