SNP should have no say over us

IT IS increasingly likely that the next government will have to take office on terms dictated by the SNP, a party which treats the English as an enemy and does not want to remain in the same country. So the new Parliament must meet immediately after the election. All UK MPs could then take charge of the process of forming a new government rather than waiting on the sidelines as they did in 2010.

Meanwhile, all London election candidates, regardless of party, should refuse to commit to any deal which transfers more money or power to Scotland at London’s expense. Richard Heller WHY do 50 to 60 Scottish MPs representing only up to two million voters have any power over 300-plus MPs for England and Wales answering to 40 million voters? Let’s rearrange the number of MPs to represent the number of voters, so England and Wales have 190 MPs and Scotland five, making a smaller Parliament more reflective of national demands and costs or give Scotland independence so that the English can run our country the way we want/need to. Peter Walsh HUGH Waine (March 25) has a bizarre notion of representative democracy. Why would the three main UK parties, having campaigned to maintain the Union, pass legislation barring the SNP from government? This is the worst attitude: you can’t have independence but you can’t have a voice. The phrase “No taxation without representation” comes to mind. Vaughan Thomas WHAT is Pete Wishart on (Letters, March 25)? The people of Scotland want “an SNP/Labour government” but “on issue after issue the Tories and the Labour party find themselves on the same side of the argument, which is the wrong side for Scotland.” Huh? The wacky bit is to suggest the popularity of Nicola Sturgeon with “the good people of England”. The SNP couldn’t even persuade a majority of its 3.5 million eligible compatriots of its arguments. Now it loftily assumes a democratic mandate over the 40 million voters of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, from whom it wishes to separate. I suspect I speak for most in the UK when I say if we never heard from Alex Salmond or Nicola Sturgeon again, it would be a blessed relief. David Makinson

All London election candidates should refuse to commit to any deal which transfers money or power to Scotland at London’s expense Richard Heller

YOUR Letters column on March 25 asked whether the SNP should “have power over the UK”. Self-evidently, a narrow, separatist party should not. It is unclear why SNP MP Pete Wishart thinks English voters favour Nicola Sturgeon since, for many of us, both Salmond and Sturgeon are defined by smugness and mendacity.

Through a red mist, Wishart anticipates that the SNP will hold the balance of power after the election. This may help the SNP in Scotland but it will not help Labour in England. Gregory Shenkman