CONSERVATIVE politicians salivate endlessly about saving the Union, yet they don’t seem to understand that their continuous vitriolic comments about the wicked SNP reflect upon the integrity of Scots who vote for them in larger numbers than any other party in Scotland could achieve.

At Westminster, Conservatives have a dismal 13 MPs out of 59, with the SNP having 35, nearly three times that number. To make up for their shortfall, the Tories bray ceaselessly at the SNP from a sedentary position, to the extent that the Speaker had, on one occasion, to remonstrate with them about their bad behaviour, reminding them that the SNP was the third-largest party in the Commons, and deserving of more respect.

At Prime Minister's Questions, Theresa May misses no opportunity to denigrate the SNP with remarks like “Scotland is doing better under this Government than it could ever do with that lot over there” – and others express similar sentiments.

How, precisely, do they reconcile such attitudes with encouraging Scots to transfer their votes to Unionist parties? Meantime, all the evidence points to a Unionist disaster at the next election – and the responsibility for that rests in their own hands. Without their historic failures, we would not have had an SNP government in Scotland in the first place,

Douglas R Mayer, Currie.

YOUR Letters Pages are certainly varied and informative with many contradicting views. Today (July 4) we have Owen Kelly talking about a “pugnacious and reckless form of English nationalism”, Alan Fitzpatrick talks about the SNP obsession with separation from the UK”, Larry Cheyne has “Conservatives' obsession with breaking up the EU”, Ruth Marr “Scotland’s decision to remain within the EU has been positively ignored, Allan Thompson “ a desperate rant by a First Minister, Robert Bell highlights the Brexit Party “turning its back on Beethoven”. For lighter relief R Russell Smith responds to Thelma Edwards with “not to get new dungarees dirty” – which brought to mind an exhortation from my parents “not to get my new shoes scuffed” when going out to play football.

Returning to Alan Fitzpatrick’s point about the need for a Citizen’s Assembly in Scotland, I think I probably agree that it not necessary because our politicians in Holyrood elected by proportional representation are doing a fairly good job of knowing and representing the wishes of voters, and sensible Scottish voters are returning the incumbent party of government time after time. On the other hand, a Citizen’s Assembly is badly needed in England, given the current meltdown at Westminster, which Boris Johnson says is England’s parliament”.

I think Allan Thompson should spend more time on reading the detail. The 35 SNP MPs at Westminster have put forward not far off 50 proposals and amendments, many to the benefit of the UK and not a single one has been adopted. Indeed, some have been resurrected by other parties under the guise of a new proposal. Nicola Sturgeon has put forward a number of positive suggestions only to have them rejected by Theresa May or a Westminster government that simply does not want to know what the Scottish people want – Scottish assets, now that’s a different matter.

Alan M Morris, Blanefield.

THE drip feed of anti-UK propaganda from the SNP continues day in day out, as Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP leadership colleagues claim it is “too late to save the Union” and that Scotland is now on an “inexorable journey” towards independence ("Sturgeon predicts independence will be PM May’s lasting legacy", The Herald, July 4). The suggestion that devolution can be further strengthened after Brexit is simply dismissed by nationalists who have only ever considered devolution as a stepping stone to their overriding ambition to break-up the UK.

Of course we have heard many times before from the SNP that another independence referendum is “inevitable” and the First Minister has explained that independence “transcends” all else, so presumably justifying the SNP Government’s many demonstrable failures through giving insufficient priority to the things that really matter in the lives of the people of Scotland such as education, health and the economy.

Keith Howell, West Linton.

NICOLA Sturgeon has taken great delight in predicting that Theresa May's legacy will be Scottish independence. Not so fast, First Minister. Her Government "predicted" fracking was " banned", not so. Air Departure Tax would be reduced, not so. Curriculum for Excellence would be a winner, not so. Many more doctors and nurses working in the health service would reduce waiting times, not so. The list of other failures is long. Even the "success" in raising the minimum price for alcohol has simply transferred the problem to cheaper drugs with a more devastating social effect and the flagship new Queensferry Crossing is still not right.

Ms Sturgeon has not got a good record of predictions at all, and an ill-thought-out scheme to simply capitalise on current government problems in the vain hope that independence will solve them will simply be more of the same. Independence must be earned, not gained by default. The crystal ball is still full of the fog from Brexit.

Dr Gerald Edwards, Glasgow G77.

ARE events pointing to a situation which our current political masters don't want us to know?

Theresa May says she wants a review of devolution. According to your sister paper The National, David Liddington refuses an FOI request to release a Government-instructed IPSOS Mori poll on attitudes to Scottish independence. Unionist politicians and their acolytes are desperate to persuade people to boycott the People's Assembly. Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt are suddenly full of compliments for Scotland's part in the Union. People are jumping to defend the monarchy as a cohesive force in the UK. The BBC and print media are giving any Unionist politician a really easy ride in any interview.

Are there echoes of McCrone? Do they not want us to know that there is currently a momentum towards Scottish independence? The question we all have to ask is: are we willing to be duped again?

David Stubley, Prestwick.

CAN you imagine being admitted to hospital to have a malignant tumour excised from a part of your anatomy where the sun never shines yet the surgeon says “We will deal with the cancer just before Christmas, meanwhile you have a plook on your bum we will squeeze that first”? No? Neither can I. Yet with Brexit’s Sword of Damocles poised over the UK today in Westminster they debated protecting squirrels.

Is this really how democracy is intended to function? We have a road-show contest featuring two talentless millionaires, neither apparently with the ability to run a sweetie-shop, a decision being one that 99.9 per cent of the country cannot influence; meanwhile in the face of a possible catastrophic period of austerity that could make the last decade look like the “land of milk and honey” our elected representatives discuss the pros and cons of different colours of tree-rats. Surely this is all a bad dream and tomorrow I’ll wake up back in the Shire with the rest of the Hobbits.

David J Crawford, Glasgow G12.

Read more: Letters: The SNP's talking shop is totally pointless