Anti-English

Hugh Kerr (Letters, 24 March) writes that he has not encountered racist attitudes towards the English in the SNP. Ill-judged enthusiasm for my country once caused me join them, despite my English accent.

At a Nationalist meeting I had the unforgettable experience of being cornered by a man and a woman who told me very clearly and frankly that they didn’t want the support of people like me. There were no raised voices or bad language; they explained plainly and coldly that they detested the English and as far as they were concerned, someone with an English accent was not welcome.

If they had been addressing a black person they could well have found themselves in court.

That has a lot to do with why, after half a century in Scotland, I am looking at English house-prices.

Will Mr Kerr put his hand on his heart and tell us that there are not many people in the SNP whose reaction is “good riddance”?

Michael Upton

South-East Circus Place

Edinburgh