Readers' Letters: Make Scotland better in name of those who died for VE Day

BBC News Scotland Editor James Cook described the SNP’s Programme for Government as “pretty thin”. With a lead in the polls John Swinney, the most cautious of First Ministers, does not want to rock the boat, but surely it’s time for radical change to ensure the SNP has something to show for what will be 19 years in government?

An extra GP appointment for just one in every 54 people or ending the alcohol ban on trains, when violence against women on trains is getting worse, would not be at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Cutting waiting lists, reducing the academic attainment gap, skills-based training, tackling drug deaths, resurfacing roads and improving public transport – especially ferries – would be more popular.

Top of many people’s list would be to rule out a deal with the Greens, who have been a disaster in government with their failed pet projects. Maggie Chapman told BBC Scotland Radio recently that “my job as a parliamentarian is to stand up for what I believe in”. She puts her personal beliefs before that of the people she represents, hardly democratic and, like many Greens, has nothing to show for the environment.

First Minister John Swinney and colleagues mark one year until Scottish Parliament election on 7 May 2025 (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Where has the record £3.4 billion extra from the UK budget gone? In the week we mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day, the SNP should recognise the legacy of those who preserved democracy by making the most of the powers they have to improve the lives of Scotland’s people. To quote Kate Forbes “continuity won’t cut it”.

Neil Anderson, Edinburgh

Rural snub

There was no mention in the Scotsman article of 7 May over the SNP proposal to abolish peak rail fares that, in Lerwick, Lochinver, Braemar, Lochgilphead, Kelso or Kirkcudbright there are no ScotRail services.

Hence we have a First Minister who does not address the travel needs of rural Scots, an Edinburgh-focused SNP that issues £20,000 wage increases but cannot provide cash to repair a bridge over the River Dee in Kirkcudbright, fix the road problems at Rest and be Thankful or have any plan to provide maternity services in Stranraer or dual the A75 – the longest goat track in Europe!

A First Minister for only those in the Central Belt and an SNP party that trusts that 30 per cent of the vote in May 2026 will ensure it gets around 50 per cent of the seats in Holyrood demonstrate that an Edinburgh Parliament has failed rural Scotland and separate Assemblies are required for the rural North and the Southern Uplands.

Ian Moir, Castle Douglas, Dumfries & Galloway

Wasted years

The First Minister delivers his Programme for Government to the Scottish Parliament and the electorate. A Programme, it seems, devoid of any new ideas, with almost nothing contained in his speech to help Scottish businesses deliver job and wealth creation.

However, it really was his closing remarks that should grab the voters’ attention. The First Minister has been at the heart of the Scottish Government since 2007 and was Nicola Sturgeon’s number two for some considerable time. He has held Government positions as Finance Secretary, Secretary for Education and Skills, Secretary for Covid Recovery and is now First Minister.

He ends his statement by saying “Centred on delivery, providing hope, it is a programme that seeks what is best for Scotland, a Programme for Government that gets our nation on track for success”.

On track for success? This surely begs the question, what on earth have this hapless SNP administration being doing for the last 18 years, and clearly demonstrates they have achieved no success in any domestic policy area at all.

Richard Allison, Edinburgh

Unimpressed

Who is doing more damage to the SNP's chances of success, John Swinney or Nicola Sturgeon? It all comes down to percentages. Nicola Sturgeon favours the “rights” of fewer than half a per cent of Scotland's population over the rights of women, who make up over 50 per cent of Scots. Not a good start.

Now John Swinney wades in with 100,000 “new” GP appointments. Scotland has a population of over 5 million and there are around 240 working days per year per full time GP in surgery. These hypothetical appointments will be a drop in the ocean and if Mr Swinney says he can deliver them now then why not long ago?

Eighteen years of SNP failures encapsulated in a single day's utterances.

Gerald Edwards, Glasgow

Failing our children

I feel angered by the First Minister's recent statement in parliament, “parents can be reassured that there is support available to meet the needs of individual young people”. Any parent of a neurodiverse child will tell you this statement is blatantly false.

Whether it be speech therapy or appropriateness of educational support or other needs, the support is not available or must be obtained through a very hard, stressful fight. For example, in West Lothian in 2024 70 families applied for placement in ASN units where seven places were available.

Scotland has the ludicrous situation where the government needs to fund legal challenges to local authorities’ decisions. As any parent or teacher will tell you, the system for dealing with ASN children is broken. “Getting It Right For Every Child” (GIRFEC) is a fantasy. Reality is far removed from the aims of the government.

The Scottish Government needs to tackle this problem and provide the necessary funding to ensure no more children and families are ruined. Saying: “We are providing £X millions extra this year" is a way of avoiding answering the question, “is the funding adequate?”. Clearly it's not.

The guiding principle should be to ensure that every child is supported to be the best that they can be. This is patently not the case at the moment.

Alan Halley, Linlithgow, West Lothian

Cunning plan

Your editorial of 5 May, “SNP must take on Reform in battle of ideas”, fails to mention the elephant in the room: immigration.

Reform is led by Nigel Farage, “Mr Brexit”, and the main driver of Brexit was English working-class opposition to the masses from eastern Europe, who had placed an intolerable strain on public services, even on simple things like street-parking possibilities.

The main driver of Reform's popularity in Scotland now, for those who keep their ear to the ground, is the cost to taxpayers of accommodating cross-Channel illegals.

As the EU's vehicle here, the SNP is trying to persuade the UK Government to allow Holyrood the say on immigration. Their cunning plan is to enfranchise the new arrivals asap, in order to create a pro-Indy majority and see Scotland rejoin. I expect Reform to highlight that.

George Morton, Rosyth, Fife

Dump zealot

Labour's decline in popularity since the euphoria of last July is stunning. Most blame it on the Winter Fuel Payment withdrawal and other welfare tinkering. In my opinion there is only one central cause, and it is not these, but I fear Sir Keir Starmer is not up to righting it.

He needs urgently to get rid of Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and his crippling policies and ditch the whole impoverishing net zero shebang. The crassness of shutting down our oil and gas bonanza and then importing the same product from China and elsewhere at horrendous cost in every sense of the word beggars belief.

Then Mr Miliband concreted in all our coke mines and in so doing closed down permanently the fuel needed to power the UK's steel manufacturing industry. This now has to be bought and shipped from the USA.

This kind of blind zealotry is hurting Labour – and far more importantly, our country – endlessly. We need someone pragmatic in Mr Miliband's place, the sooner the better.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh

Remember Varsity

My dad flew on Operation Varsity, which had to happen before there could be a VE Day. Churchill’s Britain had been fighting the Nazis on its own for two years. Hitler’s armies swept across Europe until the Nazis reached the English Channel at Calais.

British and Commonwealth Second World War combat casualties were 384,000. 40,000 civilians lost their lives, 2,000 of them in the London Blitz.As a wee boy, I sat on my mother’s knee on our back green air raid shelter while Heinkel bombers dropped parachute bombs on the Glasgow residential area of Hyndland. The bombs hit the tenement next door, causing 90 deaths.

In February 1945 as the British, and American Allies final invasion phase began, 233 squadron resumed glider training in preparation for Operation Varsity, an operation designed to secure an airborne bridgehead across the Rhine by the British 6th and US 17th Airborne Divisions.

My dad, although too old at 29, had volunteered in 1939 to join the RAF and was posted to 233 squadron Dakota from Blakehill Farm, near Swindon, towing an Airspeed Horsa glider. Each one was crammed with paras and their supplies. Preparatory practice with gliders resumed at the beginning of 1945.

Operation Varsity: the aerial invasion of the Rhine, when the British 6th Airborne and US 17th Airborne Divisions armada of 1,500 planes dropped approximately 40,000 men. It was the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany. Twenty-four Dakotas left Blakehill Farm and 24 Dakotas returned safely. No losses were believed to have been sustained by 233 squadron.

The 80th Anniversary of Operation Varsity was on 23-24 March 2025. It was the real precursor of VE Day.

Doug Morrison, Tenterden, Kent

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