The significance of the Glasgow East by-election

The defeat of Labour by the SNP and the move up to third place by the Conservatives in Glasgow East, together with recent results in England almost ensures that there will be a Tory government in the UK after the next General Election. This could well increase demands for independence.

It would benefit the Conservative Party on both sides of the border if David Cameron pre-empted this by having informal, exploratory talks with First Minister Salmond about granting far more powers, which must include taxation to the Scottish Government, while making it clear that unless a referendum decided otherwise, this would occur within the Union.

While there will probably be more Tory MPs from Scottish constituencies after the next election, they will still be in the minority and it would not be good for the new UK Government to have a Scottish Government constantly using this as an excuse to stir up trouble about devolution.

John K Richmond, Lochwinnoch.

The Glasgow East by-election campaign and result should indicate major areas of concern to all people interested in the regeneration of the east end in particular and of Scotland in general. All parties seem to agree that, despite the best efforts of previous MPs, MSPs and councillors, we still face tremendous problems in schools, colleges, universities, plus in our housing and in our health service and our general way of life.

Can any party honestly promise speedily and comprehensively to tackle those problems without a vast increase in resources?

Will these funds ever be available while we spend so much of our national wealth on atomic weapons or on unnecessary and possibly illegal wars at the behest of our leaders?

Scotland must have a government, even if it must remain part of the UK, which controls all the wealth and income raised in Scotland. This government must have the power to decide exactly how much it requires for our speedy regeneration.

Any surplus would then be available for defence, foreign affairs, etc. The greatest emphasis on the surplus should be on seriously attempting to end the deprivation in much of the third world. This would give Scotland a place among those nations that are trying to promote a better world. It would also enable us to put some financial restraint on the majority south of the Scottish border who still imagine that England is still a major world power.

If the Glasgow East by-election leads to clearer thinking among well-intentioned, honourable people in the Labour Party, the SNP, the Liberal Party, the Tories and those in a number of smaller parties, plus the many in our churches and other caring organisations. The people of Glasgow East's response will have confirmed that this by-election has been of major significance.

Councillor Gordon Murray, Civic Centre, Windmillhill Street, Motherwell.

The photo "One that got away" (early editions, page two, July 25) presciently described the result of the Glasgow East by-election: Margaret Curran, the eventually unsuccessful Labour candidate representing "old Labour" is caught frantically trying to attract a vibrant young boy, representing the new Scotland progressively ignoring Labour. The election result proved this to be the case as John Mason, with a 22.5% swing to the SNP, won this seat by 365 votes.

The photo may also be forecasting the increasingly likely removal of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister and even of this Labour government. Des Browne, the Secretary of State for Scotland, said that the result had little to do with Gordon Brown but was due to the current economic climate. He conveniently forgot that Prudence Brown was Chancellor and blithely followed the US economic pattern which has landed us in this present depressed economic state. This result will definitely benefit Scotland as the SNP is obviously gaining overall acceptance throughout the country. The only factor that needs to be addressed is the still poor voter turnout, at 42.25% - this needs to be addressed by a system of compulsory voting. The present system seems wasteful, as it may not actually represent the overall political wishes of the electorate.

Ian F M Saint-Yves, Whiting Bay, Isle of Arran

Following the SNP's victory (I think the only one who seems to be surprised is the Labour Party) I have been listening to various radio news bulletins during which various Labour spokespersons lay the blame for the defeat firmly at the door of rising food and fuel prices, and the credit crunch. It may have escaped the Labour Party. However, the people of Scotland, as well as having lived off false promises by the Labour Party for more than 50 years, have, over the past decade or so, been getting squeezed on tax by this current government. Unless you are Des Browne, who seems to think we have never been better off.

The working generation are the most taxed in history, and the working man, regardless of the current economic climate, has been taking home less in his pocket year on year since Tony Blair and the Labour Party were elected. As well as taxing everything that moves, including air flights, and tripling the cost of diesel through taxation, they removed tax benefits to married couples and those married couples with children. They also ruined the pension industry with a windfall tax. The problem is not the removal of the 10p tax band or the price of fuel, it is the constant increase in tax by this government since it was elected, taking hard-earned money out of the pockets of the workers of this country, whose incomes fund the extravagance of our overseas deployments and aid packages (not to mention our MPs' undeclared expenses - what the self-employed could do with a deal like that).

There are no funds to help the cost of fuel in the UK but £30m was easy to find last week to aid peace in Palestine; another bottomless pit.

As chancellor, Gordon Brown happily accepted the poisoned chalice presented to him by the rapidly departing Tony Blair (who, I believe, saw all of the Labour Party's current problems coming towards him). Putting people first - after years of putting them last in his own thoughts with his own taxation policies - is proving much more difficult than he thought.

Well done the people of the East End.

John McWilliams, Coatbridge