Talking turkey: voting reforms needed - but won’t happen

Ross Greer, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, responded angrily to criticism of the situation, on the basis that Dr Manivannan had been legitimately elected.

While that is technically correct, it does beg a question around the regional party list system.

I wonder how many of the 67,877 electors who voted Green in the Edinburgh and Lothians East regional list were aware of there being a candidate by the name of Q Manivannan, far less knew anything about the individual.

Reform of the voting system for Scottish Parliamentary Elections is badly needed. But the likelihood of SNP and Green parties supporting a review is in ‘turkeys voting for Christmas’ territory.

George Rennie, Inverness.

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Fighting talk: Labour must punch back

WITHOUT doubt, the election results of last Thursday really do signify The End Of The (Political) World As We Know It.

They are proof that the old two-and-a-bit and three-and-a-bit party systems of the UK and Scotland are a thing of the past.

Logically, the end of those systems could be the loss of habitat that will be an extinction event for some of the parties that formerly populated it. No doubt we will be discussing the reasons behind this phenomenon for years.

A particular outcome might be that the 2024 General Election could very easily turn out to be the landslide from which Labour will never recover, much like the Liberals, following 1906.

So Labour could be very much like those of us who find ourselves in our later years: if we have ambitions, we must act on them now, or we may never get another chance.

What is more, with Labour clearly facing electoral oblivion, it might have nothing to lose in electoral terms.

It is free to be daring, to act big and to do the right things that the country needs. My own choices would be electoral reform, EU alignment, the Death Tax (inheritance tax) to fund elderly care, and 100,000 new council houses in NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) areas.

Throw in a Spanish-style amnesty for asylum seekers, which would be Nigel Farage's worst nightmare.

To use another analogy, the Labour Party is on the canvas.

It needs to get back up, and come out swinging (with its left hook).

If it does, it might just get a bit of puncher's luck. Not just for the country, but for itself too.

Peter A. Russell, Glasgow.

Compulsory voting required

I agree with Walter Paul (Letters, May 8) that voting should not be an option, but should in fact be compulsory.

In the light of the results for the Scottish Parliament, I feel it is even more crucial that all those eligible to vote exercise that right without exception.

The number of people eligible to vote in Scotland is, according to recently released figures, 3.8 million. Turnout in this election has been declared at 53.2%, which equates to 1.8 million people who could not be bothered to vote for varying reasons.

This means that the SNP, which took the majority 58 seats, equating to 38.2% of the constituency vote of those who voted, in fact only achieved support from 19% of the total electorate.

We now have the situation where, for the next five years, 81% of the population is being governed by a party whose policies and philosophy they don't support.

This makes John Swinney's quote that the win was "significant and emphatic" debatable, to say the least.

Remove this sizeable bone of contention by making voting compulsory either in person, by post or on line. With no exceptions.

If you don't want to vote for any party on the ballot paper, then it would be quite acceptable to spoil your paper.

But not taking part would not be an option, and would be subject to a fine, as is the case in Australia, for example.

For future politicians who win an election, to state accurately that the population has spoken, this boil must be lanced.

James Martin, Bearsden.

SNP: youth orientated

NJ Hunter bemoans the SNP winning the election, and suggests a ‘sense of anguish and hopelessness for what lies ahead for our young people’ (Letters, May 12).

Mr Hunter may want to reflect on some very important positives delivered by the SNP in Government, that not only benefit our young, but the country as a whole.

Let’s start from birth: baby boxes for every child, universally available (360,000 issued to date).

Then there’s Scottish Child Payment, £27.05 a week, for every eligible child, and available nowhere else in the UK.

Also free bus travel for everyone under 22 years old. Again, only available in Scotland.

There’s free university education, which costs £9,500 per term in England.

The future of our country depends on our young people, young people who are at the centre of the SNP in Government.

Worth mentioning is that Scotland is the only place in the UK where child poverty is being reduced, and this is under an SNP Government.

Unlike NJ Hunter, I have confidence that the people of Scotland have returned a Government which has demonstrated that young people are a priority.

Catriona C Clark, Falkirk.

First Minister ignoring complaints

While John Swinney was busy lecturing the Prime Minister on listening, he might not have noticed that the Borders and the Highlands were providing an emphatic message that HE has not been listening to us.

We are saying that we’re fed up with ever more wind turbines destroying Scottish landscapes, harming communities and the environment.

In the Highlands, Kate Forbes and Maree Todd listened so little that their SNP constituency seats were lost, and Emma Roddick’s coat is on a shoogly peg.

The SNP’s energy minister, Gillian Martin, had over 100 meetings with energy developers in the past five years, but gave only half an hour to listening to a convention of local communities.

Mr Swinney’s hypocrisy is staggering. Enough is enough.

Peter Dunn, Beauly.

Reform UK: only true opposition

Labour and Reform UK have tied in Holyrood representation, and vie to be considered the formal opposition, with whatever privileges that brings.

I offer the following solution to this thorny problem.

John Swinney said that he, with the authority of First Minister in waiting of the SNP minority government, will open cooperative discussions with all other parties, except Reform UK (“SNP vet¬eran warns over shun-ning Reform”, The Herald, May 11).

By this action, has he not, in reality, confirmed Reform UK as the real of party of opposition?

Alan Fitzpatrick, Dunlop, Ayrshire.

Is it time for John Swinney to point his party into the future, without a glance backwards? (Image: Agency)

Don’t look back

John Swinney says people have got to move on over Sinn Fein (“Exclusive interview”, The Herald, May 13).

Does this mean he and his party will move on over their lost 2014 referendum?

Duncan Sooman, Milngavie.