Readers Letters: Swinney should ask himself why people are voting for Reform

When will John Swinney et al cease slandering and defaming millions of our decent and deeply concerned fellow British Islanders who have sought rescue from disastrous “uniparty” neoliberal Westminster UK governments in the ranks of the Reform party on both sides of the Border?

The misrepresentation and demonisation of this growing demographic will backfire badly for the “continuity” unreformed SNP who continue their failure to honour the mandates given them by the Scottish people, namely to pursue the political, economic and cultural autonomy that would remove the need for Reform north of the Border.

I am far from a supporter of the totality of the Reform agenda but anybody who dismisses the concerns of their adherents and some of the solutions they have explored merely demonstrates a failure to grasp the reality of life for many people impoverished and immiserated by legacy party misgovernance in the UK Parliament for 40 years and longer.

First Minister John Swinney has raised concerns about the rise of Reform UK (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

If “Safe Hands” John is “very fearful” of the Reform movement then he and his SNP “high heid yins” would do well to reinvigorate and reconciliate a fragmented independence movement by collaborating fully with the Alba party and the popular movement at large to optimise the pro indy majority in 2026 that could be the means to escape the UK “far right” threat.

Clinging to past glories of SNP domination of the freedom movement is to be irresponsible with all our futures. Those list seats should go to Alba where possible and not Reform.

In Mr Swinney's Programme for Government all of his four priorities are best served by cohesion in society and if this sense of unity of purpose could be re-established in the independence movement our children and grandchildren would be the beneficiaries. Think on, John!

(Dr) Andrew Docherty, Selkirk, Scottish Borders

Farage will go

I should like to reassure John Swinney concerning his fears about Nigel Farage becoming Prime Minister (your report, 5 May). Quite frankly, he will not become PM.

We must trust the British public to see Nigel Farage and his cohorts for the chancers that they are. What is now Reform UK under the leadership of Nigel Farage was the Brexit Party then, under his leadership and responsible for the biggest political disaster of recent times, namely the self-harm of leaving the EU.

In the calamity stakes, Farage has only one equal, namely his pal and mentor Donald Trump. Nigel Farage spends more time in Washington than Clacton and the White House than Westminster.

I would bet that Reform UK will cease to exist, under any name or leader.

Ian Petrie, Edinburgh

Reform’s chance

Polling guru Professor John Curtice thinks Reform UK's success will harm Anas Sarwar and help John Swinney at the 2026 Holyrood election, but is this really so? By then Scotland will have had 19 years of SNP rule and how many Scots can say that this has been a success? Contrast with this those for whom this time period has been a disaster.

Voters are getting more canny. The SNP can offer little, if anything, new while Labour is just digging a deeper hole for itself down south. This leaves the way open for Reform UK to do better in Scotland, or perhaps have an agreement with the Scottish Conservatives to create a new right wing force, much to John Swinney's disappointment. We all know a year is a long time in politics.

The SNP is not unbeatable any more and its shocking disregard for Scotland's women may well come back to haunt it.

Gerald Edwards, Glasgow

SNP, we see you

The lead headline in yesterday’s Scotsman screams the fear that John Swinney has about Reform’s gains in English local elections. It is a tad ironic that he is warning about another nationalist party.

Ramping up the rhetoric and sowing fears and foreboding are his latest attempts to win over an increasing number of those who previously voted for the SNP. They are turning their backs on a party that has betrayed their trust and cost them dearly in so many ways.

Education, justice, infrastructure and local authority responsibilities have all been severely negatively affected, and what to say about NHS Scotland? I fully expect the usual Nationalist apologists to rebut all of this, but I also suspect that the majority of Scottish voters have seen through the ineptitude and, dare I say dishonesty, of the present administration.

Pauline Carruthers, Edinburgh

Pay for better UK

In the light of the recent local election results, Labour needs to reassert its values, not further lurch to the right. We need a distinctive challenge to extremism and clear communication with voters.

Labour needs to tell us how it is, spell out the unpalatable truths: if you want public services, you have to pay for it; if you want proper defence, you have to pay for it; if you want decent government that protects everyone, not a privileged few, then you must pay for it.

And it is the well-off and rich who should shoulder the greatest burden.

Trevor Rigg, Edinburgh

Dying concerns

I am concerned about the possible consequences of the Scottish Parliament passing the proposed Assisted Dying Bill.

News reports in the media and on social media have inured us to the idea of violent and mass deaths being remote and impersonal. This has developed a perception that life is cheap and disposable. The passing of legislation on assisted dying in other nations has created a precedent which is difficult not to follow.

However, the original legislation and safeguards in, for example, Canada and Belgium, have become interpreted less stringently. I expect MSPs will have seen evidence of this.

Without commenting on the rights or wrongs of current abortion legislation, the 1967 Abortion Act and subsequent changes have diluted the rigour to which termination assessments are considered. The authorisation by two doctors has become a tick box formality and “the vast majority (98 per cent) of abortions are carried out if there is a risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or any existing children of her family”. This is typically interpreted liberally with regards to mental health to create (in some opinions) a de facto elective abortion service. Could assisted dying follow the same path?

The issue of third party coercion is also contentious, as is the potential desire of older or disabled patients not to become a burden, physically or socially or financially, on their families.

I hope MSPs will consider all aspects of the Assisted Dying Bill and respect that they will make a decision on their vote having done that.

Jim Quinn, Lanark

In a flap

James Duncan states that wind turbines do not turn particularly quickly and that birds would be able to avoid them with their ‘lightning reactions’ (Letters, 5 May). The tip speed of a 50-metre blade rotating at 15 revolutions per minute can exceed 150 miles per hour, while most birds, apart from a few hunting raptors, fly at 20 to 30 miles per hour. And turbine blades are now reaching 90 metres in length and consequently have even faster tip speeds.

(Dr) Malcolm Ogilvie, Bruichladdich, Isle of Islay

More power to AI

The recent power outages in Spain and Portugal are far from unique. In 2022 and since there have been massive power outages in Kazakhstan and across Central Asia, reportedly caused by numerous banks of computers harvesting cryptocurrencies.

What is certain is that a range of artificial intelligence operations require banks of electricity-hungry computers to function. As a consequence, electricity demand in the United States is predicted to double from present levels. A massive programme of new power station and grid building is projected there. Energy security is no less fundamental here if the UK economy, including the industrial, scientific and technology sectors, is to flourish in the future. The UK likely must not only double its present electrical generation and supply capacity, it must ensure the price of electricity is competitive. The unacceptable alternative will not only be economic decline. It will be increasing blackouts and power outages. No modern government is known to prevail if it cannot guarantee to keep the lights on. So the question is, can our politicians now smell the coffee?

Elizabeth Marshall, Edinburgh

Defending SNP

It is absurd for Labour MP Graeme Downie to blame the SNP for “failures on defence”, and of “not prioritising the issue” (your report, 5 May). In a section of the Scotland Act 1998 headed "Defence” it states: “The following are reserved matters – a) the defence of the realm; b) the naval, military or air forces of the Crown, including reserve forces; c) visiting forces; d) international headquarters and defence organisations e) trading with the enemy and enemy property.”

As Mr Downie aims his unfriendly fire on devolved areas “such as skills, infrastructure and economic growth”, I suspect he is well aware of the above legislation. “Failures on defence” are wholly the responsibility of the Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour parties who have formed the most recent UK governments.

E Campbell, Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire

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