Election result in the cool light of day

Sir, There has been much attention paid to the fall in the number of SNP MPs from 56 to 35, seen as disaster for the party.

Let us put this into some perspective in the cool light of day.

The SNP still won more seats in Scotland than all other parties combined, obtained the largest number of votes and delivered the second best result ever for the party.

Before the electoral tsunami of 2015, the largest number of SNP MPs was 11 and going into the election two years ago the party had just six.

Yes, a number of ‘big beasts’, primarily Alex Salmond and Angus Robertson, lost their seats and will be a massive loss.

However, it was always going to be difficult to get anywhere close to the 2015 general election result, which was a once-in-a-generation outcome.

The SNP, it should be noted, still forms the third largest party at Westminster.

The Tories, who stressed opposition to a second independence referendum, lost the election in Scotland and lost their majority in the UK. Indeed, the SNP has more than double the number of Scottish seats than of the Tories, which has been heavily defeated.

Instead of strength and stability, the Tories now seem headed for an extended period of infighting, with Brexit negotiations set to begin in very shortly.

Both the Scottish and UK results show a massive rejection of Tory austerity and an extreme Brexit.

This result, combined with the hung parliament, makes Scotland’s influence pivotal at Westminster. Alex Orr, Edinburgh.