Coalition is an 'unprincipled betrayal'

I am no visionary, but here lies the script: we are all going to get spoiled over the next few months, only to illustrate how generous the new government is.

Thereafter, another general election will be called, so the Conservatives can get an overall majority in the Commons for their generosity. We will then all suffer. The Lib Dems will be dropped like a hot potato once the Tories get the overall majority they seek. Meanwhile, the Lib Dems will have done irreconcilable damage to their standing with their own supporters for soiling the bed they jumped into from opportunism. I am hoping and praying for everyone to line up and shoot me down for being wrong.

However, in the meantime, pay attention!

WILLIAM BURNS

Pennywell Road

Edinburgh

Some awful things have been said in the last few days about Nick Clegg and his team; as a long-term Liberal Democrat activist, I believe they have done a totally honourable and very skilful job in extremely difficult circumstances, and in a relatively short timescale.

The electoral arithmetic, and reluctance in parts of the Labour Party, did not allow the "progressive party alignment" which many Lib Dems would have favoured. The Conservative/Lib Dem agreement provides many policies which a Tory majority or minority government would not have offered, not least a referendum on a more proportional voting system.

To put it crudely, half a loaf is better than no bread.

Those who condemn the coalition must be aware that such arrangements currently provide representative and stable government in many other parts of the world.

For the good of the whole country, any reasonable person must hope the coalition succeeds at this very critical stage for the UK.

ANTHONY GARRETT

Royal Terrace

Falkland

The Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition ushers in a new period of democratic deficit in Scotland. Voters who switched from Labour to Liberal Democrat to "keep the Tories out" and prevent a Trident replacement must be left bewildered at the value of their vote, as must the Labour voters who gained 70 per cent yet have no say in the Westminster Government.

With the SNP and Conservatives making no inroads, all parties in Scotland need to fundamentally rethink their strategy, otherwise they risk totally disenfranchising the Scottish electorate.

MICHAEL N CROSBY

Muiravonside

By Linlithgow

Once again Scottish voters have comprehensively rejected the corrosive, divisive values and policies of the Conservatives, but are saddled with them anyway.

Will people who call themselves Scots and those who have made Scotland their home now realise that the only way their aspirations will be met is by having a totally independent government in Edinburgh?

RICHARD WALTHEW

Duns

Berwickshire

It would appear that we continue to live out the (so-called) Chinese curse of "living in interesting times". We now have a government which, we hope, will function as a unit for the good of the people of our country – or is it an unholy alliance?

There is a suspicion that this union may have been forged for the wrong reasons, perhaps personal hubris and, of course, ambition. Did Gordon Brown's sudden and unforeseen "intervention" have any bearing on the equally dramatic conclusion of his rivals' deliberations?

Was this a cunning plan on his part? Or will it, in fact, do exactly as it says on the tin? Is this coalition a marriage of connivance as well as convenience. I hope I am "cursed" long enough to find out.

Perhaps we could start with a substantial increase in the state pension. Certainly its present state is risible.

GEORGE COOPER

Westgate

Leslie, Fife

Liberals and Liberal and Radical Associations have been locked in battle with a Tory party representing privilege, wealth and elitist authority since before 1857 and the formation of the National Liberal Federation.

For Nick Clegg to turn his back on progressive partnership to join a Tory coalition is an unprincipled betrayal of everything Liberals have ever stood for in favour of naked political opportunism. I urge every Liberal and radical still left in the Liberal Democrats to resign to rejoin the Liberal Party. It is the right and duty of every Liberal to campaign with us for a more equal and democratic society which is against everything for which the Tory party stands.

JOHN HEIN

Liberal Party National Executive

The Liberal Party in Scotland

Montgomery Street

Edinburgh