Electoral liability

NICOlA Sturgeon is clearly rattled at the prospect of losing more MSPs and MPs at the next Holyrood and Westminster elections in 2021-22.

even with support from the Green wing of the SNP, it is unlikely there will be a pro-independence majority in Holyrood.

With her misreading of the public mood over Brexit, and failure to recognise that many Scots who voted Remain did so only to avoid the SNP using a leave vote as their ‘material change’ needed for Indyref 2, Miss Sturgeon’s stance on Brexit is causing friction within the SNP and making her an electoral liability.

With her hopes of Brexit providing the necessary catalyst for Indyref 2 quickly evaporating, she has decided to include a new independence referendum in her 2021 Holyrood and/or her 2022 Westminster manifestos.

This is an attempt to win back support from the 400,000 SNP voters who voted to leave the eU and deserted her party at the 2017 general election.

It also seems she is afraid to stand solely on her past pledges that she wanted to be judged on her record in government and that education was her number one priority.

Despite her claims to the contrary, every policy area under her government’s control is a litany of mismanagement and failure – and it’s getting worse by the day.

ALAN WYLLIE, Largs, Ayrshire.