SNP always on look-out for another indyref when things don’t go their way

The SNP always has a ready excuse for holding another independence referendum. After the 2014 vote it was simply because we gave the answer the SNP did not agree with.

After the 2016 EU referendum also delivered an outcome that the SNP was unhappy with, Brexit became the new reason for Scotland to break up the UK.

More recently, the fact that Nicola Sturgeon does not like the new Prime Minister seems to have come to the fore.

Leaving the EU is proving difficult, but it is doubtful, whatever the outcome, that Scotland will choose to compound uncertainty and economic challenges by breaking away from the UK union that in every way is so much more important for us.

KEITH HOWELL West Linton, Borders

The SNP and their apologists tell us on an almost daily basis that Scotland did not vote for a Conservative government.

Figures for the 2016 Holyrood elections and 2017 general elections show that votes for the SNP were 46.5 per cent and 36.9 per cent respectively, indicating that the majority of Scots voters didn’t vote for an SNP government.

They complain that Scots didn’t vote for Boris Johnson, conveniently forgetting that Nicola Sturgeon was not voted in by the Scottish voters but simply took over from Alex Salmond when he stepped down after losing the 2014 independence referendum.

The same people tell us that Scotland is being dragged out of the EU against its will.

The EU referendum was a Uk-wide vote, with the result being binding on all parts of the UK.

The SNP don’t accept this. In the 2014 independence referendum 28 out of 32 Scottish council areas voted No to independence, so by applying SNP logic it would be reasonable for those council areas voting No in any future referendum to be allowed to remain within the UK.

Then again, the SNP do not do logic, but they do hypocrisy and cant extremely well.

DONALD LEWIS Beech Hill, Gifford, East Lothian

The travails over the new unopened Edinburgh Sick Children’s hospital continue to escalate to alarming proportions.

This is a purely Scottish Government disaster. The post of Scottish National Party health secretary is a fragile one – Nicola Sturgeon got out of it whilst she could. Shona Robison was quietly removed. Jeane Freeman now has the poisoned chalice.

What does this say about the running of the NHS in Scotland, especially since Glasgow’s flagship Queen Elizabeth Hospital has ongoing problems too? Boris Johnson was being refreshingly frank when he said the buck stops with him. Where does the buck stop with the SNP?

(DR) GERALD EDWARDS

Broom Road, Glasgow With Edinburgh’s Festival season in full swing, it’s fantastic to see the city packed with visitors having a great time – and spending their cash. What is less pleasing is the sight of mountains of rubbish piled up in the streets, presumably accumulating too fast for the hard-pressed council to cope.

Isn’t it time SNP minister Fiona Hyslop and the rest of the nationalist establishment stopped blocking cities like Edinburgh introducing a much-needed tourist tax? Cleaner streets could very well be the positive outcome.

MARTIN REDFERN Woodcroft Road, Edinburgh