SO Jo Swinson would be prepared to prop up the Tories again in another ConDem coalition government (LibDems say no to indyref2 but won’t reject Tory coalition, July 2). No wonder The National didn’t haud the front page for that! The mere fact that both she and the other LibDem leadership contender, Ed Davey, have repeatedly refused to take responsibility for the damage they and their party have done to people’s lives and the social fabric as enablers-in-chief of a heinous right-wing agenda says it all.
Swinson and Davey oppose independence for Scotland and both have ruled out any future coalition with Labour because of Corbyn’s position on Brexit; for Ed Davey it’s also because Corbyn’s “a very far-left politician”. But jumping into bed with the Tories and supporting the democratic deficit that inflicts such damage on Scotland is second nature to them and their party.
Toxic couplings are their thing, it seems, whether it’s the precious ie pernicious Union or a coalition with the rabid right of the Tory party (and when it comes to their treatment of poor people, every Tory is far-right). The LibDems have demonstrated they have zero compunction when it comes to actively participating in hook-ups which inflict suffering on our most socially and economically vulnerable citizens. It’s no surprise they’re only too willing to do so again.
Mo Maclean
Glasgow
IT comes as no surprise that the LibDems are being their usual two-faced, hypocritical selves when it comes to a second Scottish independence referendum. Apparently they want a re-run of the EU referendum because the public weren’t told the details of how Brexit would be achieved and that the public was lied to with promises written on the sides of buses. Yet even though all the promises of the 2014 indyref Vow lie broken on the ground, that isn’t enough for the LibDems to support a second Scottish indyref – even though their leader at the time, Nick Clegg, was one of the signatories of the broken vow!
And now the LibDems have said they will look again at doing a deal with the Tories – as if the growth in food banks, austerity and the bedroom tax wasn’t bad enough last time, the LibDems want to do it all again as the Tories’ support act.
Apparently in the minds of the LibDems (and the Unionist media) it seems that it’s the losers who get to make the policy decisions in Scotland. Every week we have Willie Rennie whining about how the SNP should ditch their main policy of independence yet every election the LibDems are struggling to hang onto fourth place in the Scottish Parliament (and now the UK Parliament as well).
According to Jo Swinson the SNP lost seats at the last UK General Election so the SNP should ditch indyref – yet the SNP still won the majority of Scottish seats in that same election! Despite THREE mandates for an second indyref and countless more if you include Ruth Davidson’s endless calls to make every election a mandate on independence – the wishes of the majority of Scottish voters is to be ignored so that the LibDems can shuffle into another ministerial Mondeo, backing the Tories’ attacks on the public sector!
With such illogical arguments it’s no surprise that the LibDems are struggling – and will continue to do so. There is no place in Scottish politics for a party which prefers Tory rule rather than allowing the people of Scotland to have their say on our future.
Cllr Kenny MacLaren
Paisley
BORIS intends to abolish the Barnett formula that he believes is a subsidy to Scotland from English taxpayers (Johnson won’t rule out slashing Scots funds, July 1). That is a lie – this is some of Scotland’s own money.
We may have a small amount of income tax devolved, but the vast amount of taxes raised in Scotland (approximately 50% of every pound) goes directly to the Westminster Treasury.
Does he really expect people to believe that only the English pay taxes and that income tax is the only tax we pay in Scotland?
Bill Kerr
Cumbernauld
ODE to Joy! British diplomacy hit a new low yesterday! I have just heard that the Brexit Party MEPs all turned their backs at the opening of the European Parliament when the anthem Ode to Joy was played to open the session. What ignorance! They and all those who voted for them are a disgrace. I imagine they are happy enough to attend and draw a salary from the EU – hypocrites every one! What with Boris and his “French are turds” comment and Hunt “privateer of the NHS” there certainly wont be any ode to any kind of joy in post-Brexit Britain.
In Brexit we see English racism written large, Johnson of course famously published a poem staying that “Scots are a verminous race and should be exterminated”. I am disgusted by the depth of depravity that now passes as normal in the UK: lies, cheating, buffoonery, moral bankruptcy, tax dodging, food banks, rough sleepers, Universal Credit, all that which is designed to dehumanise those who have neither the wealth nor opportunity to advance themselves in a Tory Britain run by public-school-educated billionaires for billionaires.
There are no moral values in post-Brexit Britain. There are no leaders with integrity. There is no “Global Britain” , all fantasies designed to dupe the gullible, and in England it worked.
In Scotland we rejected their lies, we voted by 62% to remain in Europe and work with other like-minded nations in that great ambition for bringing former warring nations together in peace and harmony. I only now want Scotland to break free of this xenophobic UK state. It does not reflect my values nor does it speak for me.
Ian Stewart
Uig, Isle of Skye
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