Nicola Sturgeon will be remembered as a politician who sowed division
sir – Nicola Sturgeon, the erstwhile first minister of Scotland, describes her frustration at being unable to “broker the common ground necessary to advance difficult or controversial policy changes” (report, May 16). What an astonishingly self-centred observation.
Perhaps her comment made in October 2022 – “I detest the Tories and everything they stand for” – might begin to explain the difficulty in finding common ground. During the passage of the hugely controversial Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, she claimed that those opposed to the Bill were “transphobic, deeply misogynist, often homophobic and possibly some of them racist as well”.
It is frankly beyond belief that she surmises she had “concerns about the part I might be playing, however unwittingly, in the polarisation of our politics”, as she wrote in The Guardian earlier this week. It is without question that history will conclude that Ms Sturgeon was one of the most divisive politicians of her generation, but it may to be too much to believe that one day she will realise this for herself.
Richard Allison
Edinburgh
sir – Is there no limit to the arrogance of Nicola Sturgeon? She presided over Scotland for nearly a decade, during which time the performance of almost every area of public services deteriorated. She attempted to inflict gender self-identification policy on an overwhelming majority of Scots who were opposed to it. She oversaw the near bankruptcy of her own political party and a massive reduction in the size of its membership. Now she is promoting juryless trials in rape cases in the face of near total opposition from the Scottish legal profession, not to mention complaining about the polarisation of Scottish society, for which she’s been largely responsible.
One wonders how anyone could cope with such serial failure, yet she sails on regardless.
John Stewart
Terrick, Buckinghamshire sir – It would have been unthinkable under Nicola Sturgeon’s iron-fisted reign for Fergus Ewing, a former cabinet secretary, to defy the SNP and tear up its proposals to close waters to Scottish fishermen (“Yousaf ’s SNP ‘leakier than a cowboy plumber’s bathroom’”, report, May 13).
Humza Yousaf has lost control of the SNP and is heading for a big defeat at the next general election unless he starts showing some leadership.
Dennis Forbes Grattan
Aberdeen
sir – The SNP had to replace its leader and now so too will Plaid Cymru (report, May 11). Moreover, thanks to our inept First Minister, we in Wales have the worst public services in the UK. For example, if we need advanced health treatment, NHS Wales transfers us to NHS hospitals in England. When will we see that the devolution experiment has never been able to attract people of the required calibre?
Brian Christley
Abergele, Conwy