I DON’T burst out laughing most Monday afternoons, but then I don’t always read about Labour Party conferences. Labour’s pathetic attempts to portray themselves as a government in waiting as they endeavour to paper over divisions, delusions and deceit are derisory to say the least. It matters not a jot how divided the Tory party is, they will not join forces with Labour to bring down their government.

May will be kept in post as long as it serves the needs of the party which is currently “to govern”. The disarray that is Brexit, and any failures post-Brexit, will be laid at May’s door only when it suits the Tory party. So if it could even potentially bring down their government, introduce Corbyn as PM, or even allow some kind of coalition, bringing down their rule is not an option for the Tories. A minority government, a hung parliament, or further reliance on a grouping as openly opportunistic as DUP is not their preference.

So as the Tories flounder, does Labour flourish? No, since they still cannot address their own weaknesses, far less challenge the Tories. Can Labour tell us how they’ll proceed with the EU if they did win a snap General Election? It’s all very well hedging your bets around a second referendum, even when called a people’s vote, if you can’t identify the timeline to get you there and the question(s) to be asked on the voting slip.

What’s the overall plan? Look at the twists and turns between Corbyn and what’s his name? Richard Leonard, who can and still does confuse devolved and reserved matters at Holyrood. Him. He who currently states his party will oppose a second indyref even so far as to confirm it will be written into the party’s manifesto. Really? Not fact-checked this with his party HQ and their different view? Or is Leonard doing his master’s bidding? Such a manifesto pledge from Scottish Labour could allow Corbyn to go back on his recent consideration to enable a second indyref. And we know that the biggest fudge of all will be Leonard’s call for some form of “federalism”.

Just as the Tories won’t vote down their own government, neither will any Unionist party give up any power from a London-centric base to the periphery, to the “regions”.

Whether the Tory party heads us for a Norway-style, Canada-style, Canada-plus-style, or a crash-out-no-deal-style Brexit, the Irish border question has irrevocably led to the questioning and potential unification of the island of Ireland.

And us? As Carolyn Leckie rightly points out, Brexit has exposed and furthered the existing fractures within the UK (Brexit or not, our future cannot be held in thrall by London, September 24). In any snap election a majority vote for pro-independence parties must mean independence this time. No ifs, no buts.

Selma Rahman
Edinburgh

I HAVE been watching the Labour Party conference on TV for the past three days and I have to say I’m very impressed by the quality of the debates and the genuine socialist hopes of the many new members who spoke. My first Labour conference was in 1961 when I was a young socialist observer. I sat in the observers section next to Michael Foot, who was suspended from party membership for voting against nuclear weapons! It is clearly a very different Labour Party today and one that gives people in England the hope of change.

The only sour notes in the conference sadly came from Scottish Labour delegates, who seemed to spend more time attacking the SNP than the Tories, despite the austerity they rightly complain about having been created by their cuts and the SNP government doing its best to mitigate them. Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard says they will oppose a second referendum on Scottish independence, yet he is in favour of a second referendum on Brexit! Jeremy Corbyn has, however, not ruled out another Scottish referendum. I suspect he understands that Labour will find it difficult to form a government without at least tacit support from SNP MPs in the House of Commons.

So what are the implications for voters in Scotland? The Corbyn effect in revitalising Labour has not happened, instead Labour are in third place in the polls and seem to spend their energy in attacking an SNP government despite there in truth being very little difference in their values from the SNP apart from the national question. So for socialists in Scotland the SNP is the only vehicle at present, which is why I rejoined them earlier this year. However, the SNP must make clear at its conference next week that it understands the historic choices we face in the next few years. Yes, we should vote against the Tory Brexit shambles and if necessary vote Remain in a new referendum.

Nicola Sturgeon should also make clear that we will have another referendum on independence within the next two years even if Westminster doesn’t agree it.The Scottish Parliament has given us the authority to have a referendum and the polls indicate that opinion is fairly evenly divided before a campaign begins.

Two years before the last referendum we only had 25% support for independence – I’m sure that a referendum which involved us not only gaining our independence but retaining our links to Europe would gain majority support. It is going to be an interesting two years ahead in politics!

Hugh Kerr (former Labour MEP)
Edinburgh

I SEE “Auntie” is at it again with Louise Lear in the weather studio on Sunday morning showing the viewers a photograph that had been sent in from a viewer from Livingston, West Lothian as the caption clearly showed. She announced that it was an illustration of the fine weather being experienced in the “far north-east of Scotland”. We are still hearing on a daily basis of the weather situation in “the north-west” etc. The far north-west of what, I ask myself? I wish the BBC would invest in some maps, or at least education for their presenters.

Drew Hannah
Somewhere in Scotland