It’s a betrayal, not democracy

Sir, – On reading Les Mackay’s perspective on democracy, like his beloved SNP, he attempts to spin a positive narrative with the usual threadbare fabric of self-delusion.

His proud proclamation that “Ms Sturgeon does the job which the people of Scotland, in their (apparent) wisdom continually vote for her to do” is nothing short of laughable.

These columns frequently list the multiple and serious policy failures of the SNP – but when it comes to democracy, the simple truth is that the “historic and extraordinary” result trumpeted by Ms Sturgeon following the 2021 election was anything but a true reflection of the will of the Scottish nation even though they did “win” 64 seats.

If Mr Mackay needs reminding of his party’s true performance behind this magical figure resulting from the modified proportional representation system known as the additional members system, here it is.

Out of a total of some 4,280,000 registered voters the 63% turnout left 2,689,000 who made their marks.

The SNP share of this vote was just 47.7% of the constituency vote and 40.3% of the regional vote, which translates into around 1,159,000 who actually voted for the SNP.

On the back of this “great victory” Nicola Sturgeon declared, with her customary verbal dexterity, that “there is no democratic justification whatsoever for Boris Johnson or anyone else seeking to block the right of the people of Scotland to choose our future”.

Yet again she chooses to wilfully ignore that in the 2014 Referendum when, on an exceptional 85% turnout, 55% of the electorate voted to remain in the Union.

For someone with an exceptional command of language this was a puzzling case of the selective amnesia similar to that which she later displayed during the Salmond ienquiry. This is not a true demonstration of democracy, it is a betrayal.

Neil J Bryce. Gateshaw Cottage, Kelso.