GEORGE Kerevan hit on a subject that has worried me for a good while (SNP cannot afford to ignore Labour’s popularity among young Scots voters, November 19). As a middle-aged man going to Green Party meetings, it has struck me how old we the attendees are.

One problem that the SNP and Greens have is the false premise that Labour are a radical party working for the downtrodden. This is obviously false (Glasgow pay scandal), but brand image can go a long way. Another problem is that the SNP and Greens look and act like the Unionist establishment that they should exist to overthrow.

In order for the independence parties and the wider non-party indy movement to win through to independence we need to move beyond established politics.

We need to get into schools, colleges, universities, sport clubs, unions, workplaces and everywhere else that people congregate. We also need to be deep into the online territory where young people live so much of their lives.

Playing by the rules of established politics will never get us to independence. The UK is crumbling around us, and it’s time to get dirty.

“Yes then, Yes now, Yes always.”

Jon Southerington
Deerness, Orkney

ANDY Anderson fails to see any logic in standing Green candidates in constituency seats where they have no chance of winning (Letters, November 19). Perfectly sensible when you look at the votes that were cast for Edinburgh Central in the 2016 election – if every Green vote had gone to the SNP instead, the SNP would have won the seat and Ruth Davidson would be out. But when you also consider the list vote, if Ruth Davidson had lost the constituency seat, the Conservative list votes would have been weighted higher. And when I run the Lothian numbers through my calculator, that would give the last list seat to the Conservatives. As it was, Andy Wightman of the Greens got the last list seat.

Steve Stanton
Milnathort

MANY correspondents in The National’s letter pages have correctly alluded to the very public and cavernous wounds within the Tory government, and Tory party for that matter, regarding the political convulsions over the withdrawal from the EU. This presents a range of opportunities for the wider Yes movement to state its case, and it is not in any way impossible that the Tory party could split over the question of Brexit. History shows that political parties can and do fracture over issues that the faithful feel are central to their particular ideology. For example, in 1886 the Liberals split over the question of Irish Home Rule while in 1931 Labour split over the first manifestation of austerity policies.

Worryingly, the current SNP leadership seem to be quite willing to dismiss more than one million Scots who have been long-term supporters of independence, myself included, who voted Leave in 2016. It’s almost as if the loss of 21 seats at the 2017 Westminster elections did not happen, but assuredly it did, and fundamentally because up to 35% of SNP/Yes supporters voted Leave in 2016, and in 2017 many of these same voters did not defect but simply stayed at home, so uninspired were they by a rabidly pro-EU message.

The SNP paid a high political price for this tactical dyslexia as seats like Gordon and Moray were not so much won by the Tories as gifted to them by the SNP leadership. The party has, to my knowledge, never rescinded a longstanding conference commitment to a referendum on EU membership post-independence. Rather than link the very question of independence to the pro-austerity and undemocratic EU, surely a unifying rallying cry for the whole Yes movement, in all its shades, would be to go for EFTA/EEA status? This would leave the question of full EU membership to a post-independence Scottish Government and keep the wider Yes movement united.

Councillor Andy Doig
Renfrewshire Council

KATHLEEN Nutt’s article, ‘Sturgeon blasts “outrageous” Tory claim she cancelled Cabinet Office meeting’ (November 17) was correct in highlighting this arrogant attitude by David Lidington.

However, I think The National missed the opportunity to expose his major comment on BBC News at Six on Friday, November 16, when he blamed the SNP if the Brexit deal failed in the Commons. I would also consider the item was typical of the BBC broadcasting these issues at primetime news programmes. Very little detail about what David Lidington discussed with Scottish business leaders in the news item – now that would have been interesting and newsworthy.

George Adam
Linlithgow

IN amongst the chaos that is Brexit, the one thing of note is the very poor standard of politicking. It is despairing to hear and see so many politicians who lack integrity, intelligence and “the right stuff” to guide us through these troubled times. It is evident that of all the high-profile players in this “game”, Nicola Sturgeon continues to be Scotland’s and, dare I say it, the UK’s outstanding example of how to serve her country and the electorate.

Keith Taylor
via email

YOUR correspondent from Kilmaurs (Letters, November 17) dubbed our fusionless PM, rather aptly, a “broken reed”. If only the Leader of the Opposition had anything of substance to offer, he would be in a uniquely favourable position to challenge the vulnerable Mrs May. Alas, any opposition has failed to materialise. One is minded of the rhyme:

As I was coming down the stair
I met a man who wasn’t there.
He wasn’t there again today
I wish that man would go away.

While Theresa’s a broken reed, Corby’s a rubber crutch.

James Stevenson
Auchterarder