THE proposal by the SNP for a Citizens Assembly seems to me totally pointless. Do we really need this talking shop Assembly of 100 appointed – not elected – persons, with the costs of their accompanying secretariat and accommodation, whose role is apparently to instruct the Scottish Government on Scotland’s future direction? What on earth is the point of that? Is that not the purpose and raison d’etre of the elected MSPs In Holyrood who exist to propose, discus , determine and implement policies which affect us in all the devolved areas, or are the cynics , including myself, correct in believing the Citizens Assembly is a not-very-subtle attempt by the SNP to promote Indyref2 in its obsession with separation from the UK?

Already, if there is any matter of real concern and importance to citizens, they can organise a petition to try to drum up sufficient support to have it debated, and media such as The Herald and social media generally are well-recognised platforms for airing personal views on any and all topics. Also. a while back I recollect the SNP launching something called a Conversation to enable it to engage with the people to find out what they wanted, but I must have missed the results of that. Enough is enough.

Alan Fitzpatrick, Dunlop.

NICOLA Sturgeon's response to the UK Government review of devolution ("May urges leadership rivals to champion the Union", the Herald, July 3) makes more sense and is more accurate when applied to herself. Turn her tweet around to "a desperate rant by a First Minister who has shown zero respect for the UK Parliament during her time in office. It's for the Scottish people – not a nationalist MSP – to consider and decide what future we want for our Parliament and country."

Not once has Ms Sturgeon tried to work with the UK Government since SNP got into power. On every issue, everything has been grievance and confrontation.

The SNP's ambiguous economic plans are based on even more ambiguous levers.

We should admit our mistake. The SNP has not been stronger for Scotland, only negative to everything British.

Allan Thompson, Glasgow G61.

Read more: Sturgeon brands May's review of devolution as ‘desperate’

THE Conservatives' obsession with breaking up the European Union is now reaching absurd lengths. The more honest candidate (or should that be less dishonest?), Jeremy Hunt, now concedes that leaving the EU without a deal will be as damaging as the financial crash of 2008. He admits that "thousands" of people may lose their jobs in such an event, but he would do it "with a heavy heart". This puts the interests of the Conservative Party ahead of those of the nation as a whole. The charade of Brexit began with an attempt to outflank the Faragists and threatens to become an economic disaster. Even now Conservatives of all hues are concerned that failure to deliver a Brexit before the next election will be a disaster – for the Conservative Party.

Meanwhile a bidding war is taking place to spend Philip Hammond’s war chest to cushion Brexit on all sorts of pork barrel promises, mainly to benefit the ageing and wealthy membership of the Conservative Party. Having woken up to the dangers of their Brexit folly for the integrity of the United Kingdom, both seek to cloak themselves in a Union Flag – though the bulk of the Conservative electorate place Brexit before the Union.

This must come as an extreme embarrassment to Unionists in both Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Union means far more to them than their English counterparts, despite the rhetoric. Perhaps the time for a reappraisal of the constitutional arrangements of these islands is at hand.

Even more embarrassing must be the rhetoric past and present of the front-runner, Boris Johnson. Past references to "verminous" Scots have been brushed under that carpet, as have taunts that a pound spent in Scotland was less effective than a pound spent in south-east England – which must be why so much is spent on the south-east. Mr Johnson now says that as the next Prime Minister he would style himself also as "Minister for the Union" though most of that seems to involve bashing the SNP rather than addressing the deep inequalities in the UK. But, peculiarly, that could all change tomorrow. After all, he is the man who put "liar" into peculiar. But this may be our next Prime Minister.

Larry Cheyne, Bishopbriggs.

I AM intrigued by Keith Howell's description (Letters, July 3) of "Scotland's positive place in the Union" given Scotland's lack of positive benefits from more than 40 years of oil production, while repeatedly being saddled with Conservative governments we never voted for, and now facing the probable prospect of a Tory Prime Minister who will be a positive nightmare for Scotland. And Scotland's decision to remain within the European Union has been positively ignored since the EU referendum in 2016 by politicians who have the cheek to talk about delivering democracy.

If David Cameron had accepted Nicola Sturgeon's proposal that the UK would only leave the EU if all four nations voted to do so, Scotland would be in a far more positive position than our current prospect of being hauled over the edge of the hard Brexit cliff we positively never voted for.

Ruth Marr, Stirling.

THE actions by the Brexit Party leader and his stooges in facing the wall during the EU anthem is surely the final insult that these obsequious individuals can render to us here in Scotland.

They do not represent Scotland and Scots who voted to remain in the EU. No doubt, our EU friends will be glad to see them gone after Brexit, but the final irony would surely be if Article 50 were revoked and these nasties would have to continue.

However, the EU’s representatives, in particular José Manuel Barroso, former President of the European Commission and an Anglophile, must be squirming now having been led by the nose by David Cameron to attack us during the independence referendum and support Better Together. How they and he must feel now to see that Better Together has brought about a scenario where Scotland’s definitive vote to remain in the EU has been thwarted. So now you can start to stand up for Europositive Scotland.

The EU must ensure now that Scotland is fast-tracked into membership when the UK of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ceases to exist. In fact, as other nations from the former (United) Yugoslavia and Czechs and Slovaks who separated from Czechoslovakia, were admitted, there is no reason now to consider the UK sacrosanct as the English and Welsh vote took the UK out. No doubt some on the Continent will be reassessing their past folly in the light of the Faragists at Strasbourg and the chaotic state of the UK Government and leadership stramash at Westminster.

John Edgar, Kilmaurs.

I NOTE from news broadcasts the Brexit Party's shunning of the European anthem on the opening day of the new European Parliament session. Turning its back on Beethoven tells us all we need to know about this anti-life, anti-imagination and anti-joy organisation.

Robert Bell, Cambuslang.