Coalition mandated to govern all of UK

Alex Salmond, the First Minister, and others are out of line when they state "the election did not give a mandate to the Conservatives to govern Scotland".

The mandate was given to govern the United Kingdom. They should be aware that the regions of England have similar problems as Scotland regarding funding and MPs (Scottish, English and Welsh) vote for or against as they see fit, which is sometimes to the detriment of the English.

I am a Scot and proud of it, so Mr Salmond insults those of us who consider ourselves British as well as Scottish.

The tiny number of SNP MPs should also be noted. I do not agree with David Cameron's coalition, but it's what we have. Let him get on with it even though with a lot of them it is "me first".

WILLIAM S McGREARY

Mouswald

Dumfries

Already knives are being sharpened against both David Cameron and Nick Clegg by members of their respective parties unhappy with the coalition.

The two leaders should ignore all of them and concentrate on convincing the electorate that they are serious about real change to the way the country is run.

Let them be bold and implement the income tax threshold rise to 10,000 immediately, from wherever they can raise the funding. That would partly redress the burden suffered under Gordon Brown's relentless stealth taxes.

The Lib Dems in particular should be determined to make the new government successful as they have no democratic right to be members at all, let alone with such a disproportionate representation in Cabinet.

Experience of Scottish minority government shows that Labour will react negatively and destructively even in the face of our overwhelming financial deficit. All the more reason, then, to drive the new administration to success with a view to establishing coalition as the norm.

ROBERT DOW

Ormiston Road

Tranent

I was surprised you gave credence to the Tory lie that you can simply add their total votes to the Lib Dems and then compare it to the SNP vote in 2007 (Editorial, 15 May).

As this gives the coalition two votes in each seat, this is not a fair comparison when the comparison is with one vote for the SNP. If the coalition stood as such in any election, they would only get one vote per seat. The last Secretary of State for Scotland to have Nairn in his constituency title was Tory Gordon Campbell, who lost his Moray and Nairn seat to Winnie Ewing. Will history repeat itself when we next have a Westminster election?

MUNRO ROSS

Stratton Road

Inverness