IT can be readily conceded that the SNP performed somewhat better in the General Election earlier this month. It is fairly obvious to many that such a result was largely attributable to what one can describe as a Brexit bounce rather than an endorsement of the SNP's stellar performance in the devolutionary governance of Scotland.

For confirmation of that let us consider, for example, a few headlines in The Herald from this current month: December 3, "International tests see record low results for Scottish school pupils"; December 6, "Outgoing Police Scotland watchdog calls for better scrutiny", not more"; December 19, "A shocking failure of lifeline services"; December 19, "Questions remain over hospital building failures says watchdog"; December 19, "Services tackling homelessness in Scotland 'broken beyond repair ;" December 20, "Recruiting GPs requires urgent attention"; December 20, "Holyrood launches probe into ferries fiasco as yard costs to double".

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Moreover, was it pure coincidence that the announcements on the delays and increased costs associated with the two CalMac ferries and the termination of the Abellio's contract came after the General Election?

Surely the SNP will be hoping, come May 2021 and the next Holyrood elections, for a serious outbreak of some kind of amnesia, which leads to the erasing of memory of the above experiences. I cannot believe that they could be so lucky.

Ian W Thomson, Lenzie.

I WAS struck by your front-page teaser to Rebecca McQuillan’s article (Sturgeon’s problem isn’t holding a referendum ... it’s winning it", The Herald, December 20).

No one can dispute the the SNP’s stunning performance in the recent general election winning 80 per cent of Scottish seats. But referendums aren’t won on seats won, they are won on the number of votes won across the country.

Pro-independence votes seem to struggle to get beyond 45 per cent. Even with a record turnout in 2014, the number was five per cent short.

To me this is the SNP’s biggest stumbling block.

Willie Towers, Alford.

IN an otherwise excellent article Alison Rowat (“A memo from the branch office to Labour Party HQ”, The Herald, December 19) appears to accept at face value the assertion that Tony Blair is accurate in his analysis of why Labour lost the 2019 General Election. In fact Labour gained significantly more votes in 2019 than it did in 2005 (with Mr Blair as leader), 2010, and 2015. In 2019 Jeremy Corbyn managed to attract 10,292,354 votes whereas in 2005 Mr Blair got 9,566,618 votes.

The problem for the Labour Party and indeed all of the opposition parties is that under the first past the post electoral system the Tories managed to hold on to their share of the vote from 2017 and slightly increase this by entering into an electoral pact with the Brexit Party. The Brexit Party stood down all of their candidates in Tory-held seats which ensured that they held on to these despite a four per cent increase in vote share by the LibDems.

The fact is that had Labour, the LibDems, and SNP agreed a similar electoral pact with each other by standing down candidates in their respective target seats they would undoubtedly have reversed the result of this election. In this scenario the Tories would have lost 50 seats to the combined opposition resulting in another hung parliament. In Scotland such an electoral pact would probably have resulted in the SNP taking three further seats from the Tories, including the seats of Alister Jack and David Mundell. Instead of ruminating over the consequences of a Tory-hard Brexit we would now be discussing how the coalition Labour/LibDem/SNP government was about to bring forward plans to hold a second EU referendum.

All of the opposition parties (not just Labour) need to learn from this defeat that in politics as in life cooperation against a common enemy is essential if victory is to be achieved.

John Smith, Dunblane.

FOR some Christians the Christmas story is a myth, what matters being not that it is a factual account of historical events, but that it is a telling of the truths of the human condition. We believe it to be the very human story of a child born into the squalid conditions of poverty and homelessness, into a family of migrants. There are seemingly deliberate reminders of those at the margins of society with the presence of the shepherds, impoverished outcasts of their day.

Our 21st century story is one of increasing homelessness, of more children growing up in poverty, of migrants made to feel unwelcome in spite of their contribution to our society and refugees fleeing hunger, destruction and persecution being shown insufficient compassion. And of course globally the story is one of relentless suffering exacerbated by the impact of climate change.

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The Gospel accounts tell the story of a man revealing to us what it means to be fully human, dedicating our lives to the underprivileged and challenging those who abuse their power.

In fact democratic politics have been seriously damaged recently by such abuse. So we Christians must remember that our role is to “speak truth to power” on behalf of the powerless.

John Milne, Uddingston.

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