Put country before party

LEADING a country and leading a political party are two entirely different things. I am afraid that this has not registered with the current crop of leaders across the UK.

Theresa May, when the chips are down, despite her courage, is infinitely more interested in keeping the Tory Party from imploding than she is in doing what is best for the people of this country. Jeremy Corbyn is worse; he is wedded to an outdated and fanciful Marxist plan for the UK to become some kind of a socialist paradise, perhaps on the lines of Greece or Venezuela.

But the worst is our own Nicola Sturgeon. She has not a sliver of consideration for the economic paralysis and damage a second break-up-the-UK referendum would bring upon our country at this time and continues her manic pursuit of a Holy Grail that in her heart she knows is never going to happen.

It is, in truth, all very sad. When we need them most they are posted missing.

Alexander McKay Edinburgh

Martin Redfern (Letters, January 6) maintains that a “Yes” vote in 2014 would have seen Scotland kicked out of the EU (which was the line of Better Together at that time).

But we now know that, in the event of any country leaving the EU, a “transition period” would be allowed – which, in the case of Scotland, would likely have resulted in our maintaining a sensible trading relationship with both rUK (who were then staying within the EU) and the rest of the EU.

The ensuing performance/ behaviour of our masters/ mistresses in Westminster has proved beyond doubt Scotland has never been, and will never be, a respected partner in any “United Kingdom” with Westminster.

It’s time Scotland re-emerged as an independent country – deciding for itself with whom it will have any relationship, and the nature of that relationship.

Ian Waugh Dumfries