Our system of representation causes sense of disconnection

When the Labour Government of the day introduced the infamous bill to impose university tuition fees on English students, up-front, the vote looked tight and I wrote to my Scottish Labour MP urging him not to support this bill, as it was not in the interest of his constituents. He replied, confirming that he had several letters similar to mine and none against, but he also had many letters from the vice-chancellors of English universities urging him to support the bill. I pointed out that they were not his constituents, but he nevertheless went ahead, with the results we now know.

No wonder there is so much hand-wringing and talk of "discon­nection". That won't change until we accept that single-member constituencies don't work.

Thomas GF Gray,

4A Auchinloch Road,

Lenzie.

SO Gordon Brown has warned about the dangers of creating two classes of MP. He should maybe have thought of that before he jumped into the referendum debate with his promise of many more powers for Scotland, beyond those already on their way over the next couple of years under the terms of the Scotland Act.

It's obvious that the more powers that are devolved, the more salient becomes the West Lothian Question. It is clearly unfair that Scottish MPs can vote on English health and education when English MPs can't vote on those issues north of the Border. The unfairness is acceptable only because the solution is worse. It involves exactly what Mr Brown now fears: two classes of MP at Westminster and an unstable constitutional arrangement that could not last.

Once significant tax-raising powers are devolved to Holyrood, as Mr Brown and all three main parties have promised, the unfairness is magnified. It's very hard to see how it could be fair for Scottish MPs to have a vote on budgetary issues that principally affected the rest of the UK. And if Scottish MPs don't have a full vote on money matters, then Westminster falls apart.

I hesitate to agree with a Tory Prime Minister, but on this occasion I believe David Cameron is right. The solution to the West Lothian Question is English votes for English laws. And that implies the end of Westminster in its current form.

Other interesting questions include: did Mr Cameron and his aides simply grasp an opportunity that happened to come their way? Or did they set a trap for Mr Brown and the Labour Party, a trap that they've walked right into?

Doug Maughan,

52 Menteith View, Dunblane.

IF all the No supporters in the recent referendum had been able to watch Tuesday's Westminster debate before voting , most of them would surely have wondered why they had believed that Scotland would be better off and treated with respect within the UK, and many would have changed their vote ("Hague: We will keep vow but now is time for English issue", The Herald, October 15). Your Letters Pages headline (October 15) is completely accurate: "Debate shows Scotland is now just a footnote to Westminster".

The debate was supposed to be about the future of Scotland within the UK and the additional powers that must now be devolved. But it was hijacked by dozens of backbenchers arguing for more powers for their own regions, and Labour speakers were more concerned about the last-minute Tory ploy to deprive them of a vote on many issues.

David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and George Osborne showed their complete contempt for Scotland by not bothering to appear at all or even sending their deputies, and for hours the Leader of the House, William Hague, was the solitary occupant of the front bench. The small group of SNP MPs were constantly taunted and belittled, and when one was eventually called to speak many backbenchers began private conversations or started texting. The Speaker and Deputy Speaker both chided SNP members as if they were schoolboys, while other MPs were allowed to get away with disgraceful bad manners.

It is now clear that whatever deal is finally brokered by Lord Smith of Kelvin, it will be based on the lowest common denominator, as none of the parties will agree to more powers than they themselves have already proposed. Russell Vallance (Letters, October 15) ponders whether the final package will be called devo-max, devo-plus or even devo-double-plus. It is now obvious that what will emerge is more likely to be devo-double-cross.

The exclusion from next year's TV debates of the party with the third-biggest total membership is just one more sign that Scotland is regarded as irrelevant by the Westminster establishment and the London-based media. Once again the Scottish people have been conned and taken for mugs by the major parties, and internal party politics has resumed normal service in the UK.

Iain AD Mann,

7 Kelvin Court,

Glasgow.

IF the criteria for excluding the SNP and the Greens from a TV debate is their lack of national representation ("SNP in legal threat over inclusion of Farage in TV debate", The Herald, October 15), surely the Conservatives should be excluded from any Scottish version of the debate?

Paul Cochrane,

10 Grants Way, Paisley.

ALEX Gallagher (Letters, October 14) makes disparaging reference to "a few thousand" gathering in Glasgow last Sunday. Most Scottish football clubs would be in a very healthy condition if they could guarantee such "small"crowds every weekend. As a sometimes Jags supporter, I had hitherto not experienced such claustrophobia. On a more serious note, the cross-section of people who still seek independ­ence for Scotland must be growing tired of the continual and indeed, deliberate and distorted, focus on the SNP.

I am an SNP member, but, a few (in the accurate sense of the word) SNP councillors aside, speaker-wise, the SNP were not conspicuously represented at the rally. This was true cross-demographic represen­tation, old, young, and political rainbow.

My partner and I travelled from Livingston and met an Ethiopian woman on the train, who had lived here for 12 years, and who was going to the rally; she talked of how she had lived through times when people had died in her country for leaders and governments to be elected - she thought it fantastic that in Scotland, we could make our voices heard in such a way.

Apologies to folk like Mr Gallagher, if this kind of democracy offends him. Apologies also to Mona, the Ethiopian lady - we lost her in the "wee" crowd.

Eddie Orme,

65 Spottiswoode Gardens, Mid Calder, West Lothian.