MAGGIE Milne (Letters, February 16) has a point on the “mandates” delivered to the Scottish Government by the electorate in a seriously flawed voting system. But she should have a care in flinging around the phrase “cognitive dissonance” because it could well work two ways.

If a “mandate” is delivered by winning an election with the support of less than 50% of those who voted, and indeed, much less than the same percentage of those who were entitled to vote, only a very short-sighted individual would immediately act upon that mandate. Simple arithmetic dictates that unless the outcome of a non-proportional voting system represents the approval of an absolute majority, any attempt to proceed with the mandate in a straightforward Yes/No contest is almost certain to lose.

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The return of Scotland’s independence is far too precious a goal for anybody to be daft enough to think that putting it to a vote without reasonable certainty that it will receive majority support is a good idea.

The objective in May is not just a majority of seats, it is the largest possible majority of votes, which is also a reason to vote SNP 1 and 2.

Les Hunter
Lanark