English is the official or primary language in more than 50 countries, from Singapore to Scotland.  It is the international language of business, law and culture. It is so unique that its phrases are adopted into foreign speech.

SNP MSP delivers entire Holyrood speech in Gaelic

In recent months President Macron of France has been censured for adopting phrases such as “crowd-funding” and “start-up” while his economy minister, Bruno Le Maire, began a speech in French before continuing: “Please allow me to switch to English to reflect the international audience.”

A Gaelic sign on the Scottish border. Picture: WikiCommons

Isn’t it remarkable, then, that with English the official and primary language of Scotland it is being diminished by treating it as similar to Gaelic by the SNP executive in official branding? Gaelic is a technology-free language spoken by 1 per cent of the population and written by even fewer. Clearly the SNP want to make Scotland as different as possible from England and making Gaelic officially equivalent to English is one way to do that.

Nowhere is this more inane than the branding of police vehicles with the words “Poileas Alba”. Police Scotland’s five-year Gaelic Language Plan runs until 2021, during which time all signage, logos and stationery will be duplicated in Gaelic.

How will this help Police Scotland keep the country – from Wick to Annan – safe? This is yet another victory for another minority paid for by the silent majority whose taxes fund all the inclusivity, diversity and gobbledegook the SNP can come up with. William Loneskie, Oxton, Lauder

Do you agree with the points raised here? Have your say on The Scotsman Letters pages. Write to [email protected]

Letters: SNP should spend money on policing not more Gaelic signs