Party's plunge is a reflection of a focus on activists and ignoring ordinary voters

CONGRATULATIONS to the new mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. In his post-election statements, Mr Khan has made it crystal clear that he won not because of, but despite Jeremy Corbyn.

In Scotland, the plunge to the worst result since 1910 emphasised even more the party’s lurch to the hard left under Mr Corbyn. We had a leader who was at best wishy-washy about preserving the UK; an anti-Trident defence “policy” that could have been written by Tommy Sheridan; blindly anti-fracking proposals and guaranteed higher taxes.

It would be difficult to make up a more voter unfriendly package

It appeared to be a manifesto written for their far left fringe activists and not aimed at the voters they have lost in their hundreds of thousands. And so they lost more.

When will they learn the difference between voters and political activists? When will they realise that the £3 member surge that elected Jeremy Corbyn will in due course move on to their next lost cause and the Labour Party will no longer be existence?

Alexander McKay

New Cut Rigg, Edinburgh

Both the SNP and the Tories are to be congratulated on their successful election results. The only consolation is that the electoral system worked a little better than in 2011 by ensuring that a party which did not get 50 per cent of the vote did not end up with more than 50 per cent of the seats.

Neither of these outcomes was particularly surprising in that their leaders’ election campaigns made the constitution the central issue of concern to voters. The Labour party’s decision to centre its campaign on policy was surely laudable. Shouldn’t that be what elections are mainly about? Apparently not in this case.

Labour lost votes to the Tories because it was indecisive on the constitution. It was clear to me that Kezia Dugdale’s position on independence is similar to my own. It is not “inconceivable” that at some point in the future a convincing case could be made for independence.

Only 20 months ago, however, the SNP failed to convince us that an independent Scotland would be “fairer and more prosperous”.

The SNP’s controlling agenda and the serious current state and outlook for the economy make it inconceivable that our prospects will look significantly different within the next five years. What Ms Dugdale was saying latterly was therefore spot on – a second referendum in the next term should simply not be on the table – it wasn’t in fact – and should be totally opposed. Perhaps if she had banged that drum from the outset the result might have been a little different.

Colin Hamilton

Braid Hills Avenue, Edinburgh