Herald on Sunday letters: Brexit, Theresa May, Sturgeon, indyref2 and the scourge of factors

Be careful what you wish for, Ms Sturgeon. In both recent Holyrood and Westminster elections, Ms Sturgeon's obsession with indyref2 lost her votes and seats – spectacularly so in 2017.

Ms Sturgeon is doubtless pinning her hopes on a minority Labour administration winning in the Commons and needing her support – and her price for backing Labour will inevitably be indyref2.

But it'll be a huge gamble for the nationalist leader. The Tories and Theresa May are consistently just ahead in UK opinion polls – plus barely a poll in Scotland since 2014 has been in favour of separatism.

Since 2015, under Ms Sturgeon the SNP has been slowly yet surely losing power. That's the problem with being a failed one-trick pony.

Martin Redfern

Edinburgh

The dust had hardly settled on the announcement of the 2014 independence referendum result, when the SNP leadership started speculating about a second one.

Soon the talk was of it being "inevitable". The problem was having something tangible to base a re-run on when polls showed opinions had not moved on the issue.

Then the 2016 EU referendum delivered a result for Brexit, which our First Minister did not hesitate to interpret as a trigger for a second independence vote, pushing through enabling legislation and a Holyrood vote to build momentum for it. This proved to be another false start, with the people of Scotland determined not to have the SNP cajole them into another divisive referendum, making their feelings clear in the subsequent Westminster elections.

Now the SNP’s conference is upon us and all will be listening out for the precise timetable for indyref2 that Nicola Sturgeon has promised for this autumn. Yet some in the party leadership appear to be suggesting that autumn could stretch into the new year.

It seems in Scotland even the seasons must bend to the SNP’s will.

Keith Howell

West Linton

Sometimes I wonder how political minds work – well not just sometimes!

Mrs Theresa May, asked on BBC recently if she would authorise another Scottish Referendum, said that the Scottish people had voted in 2014 that they wanted to remain in the United Kingdom and that was clear.

In May 2015 Westminster put into place that Parliament would last for five years; in 2017 Mrs May went for a walk in the Welsh hills and decided to call another general election. This was somewhat unprecedented as she had a majority. However, that election lost her majority and she was compelled to bribe the DUP with public money, not Tory money, for their support.

Very much double standards; politicians are often accused of “All smoke and mirrors”, in this instance Mrs May cannot see the mirror for the smoke.

By their deeds shall all men know them.

Jim Lynch

Edinburgh

I have some sympathy with Alexander McKay's wish that we could rewind the last decade (Letters, September 30), but I would suggest that we only really need to rewind the last four years, and go straight back to September 2014.

If we did, we would know that the Vow was a con trick, the scare stories were a tissue of lies, and as for the assurance that only a No vote could secure Scotland's place in Europe – keep that piece of nonsense in mind as Scotland is hurled over the hard Brexit cliff by a Conservative Prime Minister who has no mandate in Scotland.

We can't go back to 2014, but more than ever we need to put Scotland's future in Scotland's hands.

Ruth Marr,

Stirling

BEWARE THE TRUE REASONS FOR BREXIT

I agree with most of what Iain said (Voices, September 30) in The Herald on Sunday except for the ending.

He said that the Conservative Party "has become so dysfunctional it would rather wreck the economy". That makes it sound like they're all very disorganised and unable to achieve anything.

I suspect it's quite the reverse.

The main figures in this debacle are all well aware of the pending EU legislation, the Anti Tax Avoidance Directive, and are using Brexit as a smokescreen to help protect themselves against becoming liable for large amounts of tax.

They'll come up with anything and everything to justify pushing Brexit through and hang the impact on everyone else in the country – just as long as they are alright on the night.

I just hope we can stop Brexit before it's too late.

Craig Urquhart

Place Place

THIS IS BENEATH YOU, HERALD ON SUNDAY

If it is the editor's intention to find a new readership among typical low tabloid "newspapers", this is the way to go.

I find it difficult to express my anger at this piece. Apart from the cheapest attempt at a pun in the headline, the attempt by the "writer" to evoke low-life laughs from human tragedy is a marker of someone trying to out-gutter the Sun.

The line " I wouldn't be surprised if there was a stage play or operetta in the pipeline" is quite certainly the lowest I have ever read in my years reading Herald publications.

I had not realised that you had employed Katie Hopkins under the name Ron McKay.

Alice Watt

Greenock

From the diary heading onwards Ron McKay should be ashamed of his comments regarding the missing child, Madeleine McCann. His piece is not worthy of a supposed quality Sunday newspaper.

Eileen Michael

Ralston

Editor's note: Ron McKay is entitled to his opinion on the subject of Madeleine McCann. However, we fully accept that the headline and the tone of the piece was too flippant for such such a sensitive issue and we can only apologise.

SCOURGE OF FACTORS MUST BE TACKLED

My heart goes out to homeless people, and it is understandable that our attention is drawn to the those who are suffering most in this crisis. However, I think we need to glance at the bigger picture from time to time to examine all the elements feeding into (and feeding off) the present crisis. More precisely, we need to examine certain elements that are thriving as home ownership gives way to tenancies, and scrutiny shifts from housing factors to landlords as the new "evil".

I write from the perspective of a homeowner. I live in a tenement block factored by one of the worst factors in Glasgow – if not the worst. The block is rapidly falling into disrepair as, if we report a repair, we are charged the earth, and the workmanship is highly questionable. These factors charge us three or four times the market rate for insurance, and we are obliged by law to pay it. If we do need to make a claim we find ourselves at loggerheads with the factors, as if claims were to be paid from their own pocket.

My point is that such callous profiteering diminishes the quality of homes for tenants and homeowners alike. These opportunistic factors MUST be more tightly regulated.

I remember when Nicola Sturgeon first came to power she promised "people of Glasgow" that her government would tackle such rogue factors. She clearly has not done the job, and I think it is time she was held to account for this. In any case, we need to make sure that the SNP government does not make factoring of tenements mandatory (getting debated a few months ago I believe) – not without some regulation in place to stop them making large profits that are, literally, costing people their homes.

Fiona Nixon

Address

WHO IS WHOSE POODLE?

So SNP Finance Secretary, Derek Mackay reiterates that he believes the SNP will fail to deliver on its manifesto promise to slash Air Passenger Duty (APD). He cites as a justification issues around EU state aid rules that he claims could continue post-Brexit.

If this correct, then it's convenient for the nationalist party. Isn't the reality that the Greens won't countenance APD tax cuts because of the likely consequential environmental damage that would ensue? And the SNP is routinely dependent on the Green Party to pass their annual budget.

It's a cliché of Scottish politics that Greens co-covener Patrick Harvie is said to be Nicola Sturgeon’s poodle. However, as this SNP U-turn suggests, the opposite seems to be the case.

Martin Redfern

Edinburgh