They’re no allies

Martin Redfern repeats the nonsensical Labour mantra (letters, 4 August) that Nicola Sturgeon gifted David Cameron his general election win in May.

Apart from the obvious fact that even if Labour had won every seat in Scotland the Tories would still be in power, in a recent BBC Parliament programme, University of Manchester researchers made two key findings from their detailed British Election Study involving tens of thousands of voters which concluded that there was no evidence at all that the Tories had gained anything from any English anti-SNP sentiment and that the Tories enjoyed a significant late boost from UKIP supporters in the south of England switching back to the Tories as a tactical move to keep Labour out.

SNP MP pressure has already forced David Cameron to climb down on several measures, such as repealing the Human Rights Act, omitting it from the Queen’s Speech at the last minute. This was followed by the late decision to not hold the European referendum on the same date as the Scottish Parliament, then Tory backtracking on relaxation of the foxhunting ban, and Evel would have been passed into the statute book by now. In contrast, the majority of Labour MPs did not vote against increased Tory welfare cuts or the funding cuts to the Scottish renewables industry.

In the event of another independence referendum, will the Labour Party in Scotland still prefer more Tory Rule to Home Rule?

Fraser Grant

Warrender Park Road

Edinburgh