Letter: Forget Thatcher and move on

DUNCAN Hamilton (Insight, 16 May) states, in the context of the disastrous legacy of the last 13 years of the Labour government: "This is a major problem for the SNP. Political popularity is not about who did what last year – it is about the present and the future." On the next page, the online poll question is "Can the Tories ever recover from Thatcher in Scotland ?"

Will the writers in Scotland on Sunday ever practise what they preach and realise that Mrs Thatcher left government 19 years ago and certainly in the last 13 years in Scotland and theUK, we have had

to suffer a series of disastrous UK and Scottish administrations whose

only common theme is to promote an anti-Tory agenda

I for one welcome the formation of the Conservative Liberal coalition government following the recent election. It would, however, be surprising if the voters at the forthcoming Scottish Parliament elections were to forget the legacy of the Labour government at Westminster, and the constant griping attitude of our First Minister over recent years. Let's look to the future and back the Westminster coalition government and reflect this support in the Scottish Parliament elections. We can get Scotland moving again but not on the programme of old-fashioned failed socialism.

Douglas Johnston, Edinburgh