Iain Macwhirter is correct in his observation that "claims that Scotland is now a one-party state after the General Election were predictable and wrong" (Trouble ahead?, Comment, 28 June).
The concept of a "one-party state" does not apply to a state in which one party appears to be electorally dominant at a given point in time, as indeed Labour in Scotland was for the half-century prior to the 2007 Scottish election leading to the formation of
a minority SNP administration, but only to a state in which no other political party is legally
permitted to exist, far less to contest elections. Twentieth-century examples included Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and Spain as well as Stalinist Russia.
It is absurd to detect any similarity between these regimes and the administration of Nicola Sturgeon
or indeed of her predecessor, Alex Salmond.
Secondly the recent UK election in which the SNP sensationally won 56 out of 59 Scottish seats did not actually lead to the SNP gaining any more power than it already had at Holyrood.
Despite some pre-election expectations, the result produced a Conservative government with a narrow overall Commons majority which seems determined to ignore the arrival of an unprecedented number of SNP MPs in the hallowed chambers and to continue governing our country as if nothing of any significance had happened and despite the election of only one Scottish Conservative MP.
Finally, it is greatly to the SNP's credit that despite the fact that for the first time in its 80-year history it was an undoubted beneficiary of the discredited "first-past-the-post" electoral system it remains committed both to the more proportionate system already in use for Holyrood elections and to the adoption of a more proportionate system for future Westminster elections.
Ian O Bayne
Glasgow
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article