THE Wee Ginger Dug is quite right to point out that the SNP is just one strand in the independence movement; the many flowers of the 2014 referendum campaign demonstrated that convincingly (Desperate Tories trying to trick voters ahead of election, March 16). It is by far the biggest flag carrier for the cause and the one that most people rally around, but it is not the only one.

All those who believe that Scottish voters have the right to choose to decide whether to become an independent country are supporters of democracy. Conversely those who oppose the right of Scottish voters to choose their future through their own parliament alone should be treated as a single group: the Anti-Democratic Axis (ADA). This shared lack of democratic legitimacy is what supporters of independence should draw to people’s attention in their campaigns.

READ MORE: Wee Ginger Dug: Desperate Tories are trying to trick voters ahead of election

I also think the Wee Ginger Dug is right in asserting that many of Labour’s remaining supporters in Scotland are sympathetic to independence. However the fate of Hollie Cameron, the Labour candidate who was deselected for having the temerity to suggest that if Scottish voters wanted an independence referendum it was their democratic right to have one, shows that those who control the Labour party are as resolutely opposed to democracy in Scotland as the Conservative party.

These two wings of the ADA and their LibDem fellow travellers are united in treating Scotland as a means to an end. The end they seek is power in the Westminster Parliament, where they conveniently forget their responsibility to those who elected them.

Peter Martin
Muir of Ord

I NOTE R Pitcairn’s unfavourable response to the BBC show currently airing as an alternative to the proper coronavirus briefing from Nicola Sturgeon (Letters, March 13).

The correspondent’s seeming lack of enthusiasm for the new alternative show appears to be due to regular appearances from archetypal Tory D Ross. However, I believe this apparently flagging turkey of a show could be resuscitated with a slight change to the format.

READ MORE: Increasing media spots from Douglas Ross is just the start

I would suggest that Ross should appear daily with no exceptions, other than when unavoidable, important business crops up, such as refereeing a football match or polishing Boris’ shoes.

Also, Ross must face questions from inquisitors, 95% of whom must be anti-Tory Yes voters, prone to adopting a hectoring tone with a dash of belligerent rudeness occasionally thrown in.

Although I would just as soon have all my teeth removed without anaesthetic than watch BBC news/politics shows on a regular basis, I might break my rules for that one!

Malcolm Cordell
Dundee

SCOTTISH Conservative leader Douglas Ross tells his spring virtual conference that his party will abolish homelessness by 2026 – very credible and possible under current Scottish housing policy brought forward by an SNP government in recognition of the failures of past and present UK housing policy.

We all want to eradicate homelessness; any socially just society wants everyone to have the basic right of a home which meets their needs.

Housing policy under the Conservatives in Westminster had a huge impact on Scotland’s housing stocks well before devolution. The main impact took place during the 1980s under the Thatcher government, when legislation was introduced allowing council tenants the right to buy their council homes. The result of this legislation was depleted housing stocks, exacerbated poverty levels and a housing crisis on a massive scale.

This crisis resulted in the SNP government taking action by abolishing the right to buy in 2017 – action that went some way to allowing council housing stocks to recover and in some areas, councils are now buying back. In an effort to move into recovery the SNP has delivered 96,000 homes, 66,000 of which are for social rent, since coming to power and has ambitious targets of 100,000 homes by 2032, 70% of which will be for social rent, creating thousands of much-needed jobs as we recover from Covid.

Yet in complete contrast the Westminster government have extended the right to buy to include housing association tenants, an outrage if we are ever to truly tackle homelessness. So how does Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross’s commitment to abolish homelessness by 2026 sit alongside UK Conservative policy on housing?

Catriona C Clark
Falkirk

I WOULD like to thank Dougie Harrison from Milngavie for his reply (March 15), to my letter of March 12.

Firstly, I was in no way disparaging the results for the Green party in the past, and don’t really want to get into a slanging match, indeed I might even be tempted to vote Green in an INDEPENDENT Scotland. I was trying to point out that Boris and his Tory cabal will see anything other than a MAJORITY SNP government as an excuse to deny us our right as a sovereign nation to have a referendum.

READ MORE: It's a fact that the Greens have been winning seats at Holyrood since 1999

If you listen to whichever of the Tory spokespersons – Boris, DRoss, Baroness Ruth or Rees-Mogg – who talk about Scotland’s right, it is always about denying the SNP, despite the Greens being a pro-independence party in Holyrood.

This is the singular reason we need a majority SNP government. A coalition with any other party, Greens or otherwise, will be seen by Westminster as a failure to secure a mandate, and will be dealt with in the usual Tory manner.

I get the “Max the Yes” etc, but firmly believe that only by both votes SNP will we get enough SNP MSPs to have the authority to confront Westminster.

Graham Smith
Arbroath