SNP will pay the price for inquiry actions

THE public is getting increasingly tired of and disgruntled by the obfuscation, procrastination and, more recently, the amnesia associated with the parliamentary inquiry into the Government’s failure to conduct the investigation into allegations concerning Alex Salmond competently and legally (“Sturgeon tells inquiry she ‘forgot’ bombshell meeting with Salmond”, The Herald October 8).

Most people would, I think, understand that it is not easy for the First Minister to be entirely unmoved and detached about serious matters pertaining to Mr Salmond, of whom she said in

2014: “My friend, mentor and colleague for more than 20 years. Quite simply I would not have been able to do what I have done in politics without his constant advice, guidance and support through all these years.” However, the truth of the matter must come out. If that is thwarted by further obstructionism, I believe that the SNP will pay a heavy price, both in respect of damage to its reputation and at the ballot box in due course. Ian W Thomson, Lenzie.

I WOULD contend that there is not another country in the free world, and perhaps even beyond, that would have a political party leader and First Minister of a devolved administration claim that she somehow ‘’forgot’’ about a meeting at which she was told of a most crucial matter. Nicola Sturgeon is, we are told, renowned for her grasp of detail but, somehow, this, of all things, was “forgotten”. It stretches credulity well beyond breaking point.

Had this been a UK Government-level scandal involving the Prime Minister, of any party and era, he or she would have been under intense media pressure and would have surely gone already.

But in this devolved Scotland, under the SNP, the great majority of the media barely mention the scandal, far less pursue it. Those who love this country must despair at the latest lurch towards a one-party-state.

Alexander Mckay, Edinburgh EH6.

ALISON Rowat’s article (“Is there something rotten in the state of Scottish politics?”, The Herald, October 8) has an unnecessary question mark.

Listening to Nicola Sturgeon and her hubby explaining how they forgot vital meetings and sent Whatsapp messages that didn’t mean what they obviously did mean will remind a certain generation of the cartoon glutton Billy Bunter who, when caught in the act of some cake-stealing or pie-scoffing would cry out: “It wasn’t me, I wasn’t there, I didn’t do it and I won’t do it again.” The only difference being that, with the behaviour of our First Minister and the chief executive of the SNP, the joke is on us, the people of Scotland.

Alex Gallagher, Labour Councillor, North Ayrshire Council, Largs.

THE article by Sir Ian Wood (“Scotland can be a global leader in era of sustainable energy”, The Herald October 8) fails to recognise that, until a second independence referendum is put onto the back burner for a generation as detailed in the Growth Report update by Andrew Wilson, then Westminster will never agree to Aberdeen being a global integrated energy hub if it takes jobs away from RUK.

That means that Scots have to decide in May 2021 between supporting the north-east of Scotland or voting to repay the £150 billion cost of a “green” revolution without English consumers repaying 92 per cent of the cost.

Ian Moir, Castle Douglas.