Wrong, Jenny Gilruth: it's your performance we object to

Her failure to mention in her conference speech as Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government any of Scotland's upcoming problems such as the £4.8 billion black hole looming in the budget and any coherent plan upon how to tackle it or upon the reorganisation of Scotland's 32 councils to 10 or fewer regional authorities was more important than her perceived social and personal problems, yet once again she avoided the opportunity to demonstrate her incompetence and unsuitability for the job.

Perhaps it was a wise move. Cue applause.

Peter Wright, West Kilbride.

Read more letters

• Burnham visiting Scotland is cheap stunt
• Is John Swinney now a political gambler?
• It's right to fear Reform. Look at the harm Farage has already caused

Sidetracked by buses

Do John Swinney and his bedfellows live on the Planet Zog? Nineteen years in power, with a track record of disasters that is so long I cannot be bothered to list it. The latest wheeze is now to take over the buses: will they be operated on the same lines as the ferries, or worse, run by CalMac too ?

The only way that the current polling of 54%-46% for a referendum will ever swing upwards to 60%-40% in the SNP's favour is if they concentrate on properly governing the country instead.

George Dale, Beith.

What happened to the manifesto?

There were a number of things in the SNP manifesto which post-election seem to have disappeared or moved to the long grass – for instance Monklands Hospital, food essentials price cap, a ridiculous schoolbag programme which if it happens will not be manufactured in Scotland, and so on.

John Swinney, of course, told the faithful not for the first time that independence is just around the corner but wise observers note that there is still no actual plan to deliver this goal which his predecessors also failed to deliver. Sceptics abound.

On the other hand, since the election and during conference he has committed to several major programmes which were not in the SNP manifesto, namely cutting NHS boards, local government reorganisation and now at conference nationalisation of buses, all of which are ploughing ahead with little or no consultation.

Aside from the continuing failure to deliver what the Scottish people consider to be their priorities in health, education, infrastructure, the economy etc it seems the public have been hoodwinked, given the programme for government is shaping up to be very different from the pre-election manifesto promises.

When will we ever learn that what we get from the SNP is very different from its extravagant promises?

Ian McNair, Cellardyke.

Where our future lies

At a buoyant and packed SNP conference, where Prime Minister Andy Burnham could have visited after a gracious invitation was extended, independence was central to events. This refreshing, honest and proactive PM had previously accepted that the Scottish people should decide their own future and agreed that there were “circumstances” in which another independence referendum could take place.

However in talks with recently damaged Scottish Labour, Mr Burnham is now apparently advocating “solidarity and not separation”. Scotland has repeatedly elected a majority of MSPs committed to independence. In fact if Holyrood operated Westminster's outmoded voting system, the SNP would have outright control of the Scottish Parliament. As always Scotland’s future, like that of the Republic of Ireland, lies in a prosperous and expansive EU and not in an uncertain and insular UK.

Grant Frazer, Newtonmore.

Deflection by the super-rich

Unionists bang on about how divisive the Scottish independence referendum was and would be again, should our English cousins ever decide to permit us another one. My recollections of 2014 were of honest and frank debates, with little or no malice or rancour. We simply agreed to disagree. I had friends and work colleagues who took opposing views to me, but I never fell out with any of them. The argument of division is therefore, in my view, contrived.

Where this argument does apply is the Brexit referendum, where divisions were real and lasting. But that was by design – divide and conquer.

This has now spilled over into the wider UK political scene. Right-wing scaremongers try their sinister best to convince us all that all the difficulties we face are caused by scroungers, foreigners and the loony left. This is all just deflection from who really is to blame, the super-rich and their lackeys.

If I were to actually know such people, friendships would definitely be at risk.

Now that's divisive.

Sandy Reid, Prestwick.

Pleased that Reform is reeling

Reform UK is reeling and some of us are smiling. It is losing not only voters, as in the two recent by-elections in England, but politicians too.

MSP Amanda Bland, elected in May for Central Scotland and Lothians West, has quit ("Reform UK MSP Amanda Bland resigns to sit as independent", heraldscotland, October 16). The former police officer and primary school teacher wants to stand as an independent, changing the make-up at Holyrood.

Her decision comes just days after Glasgow Central candidate Paul Bennie resigned from the party accusing Scottish leader Malcolm Offord of “extreme nepotism, cronyism and bullying”.

Some of us may be planning the party of all parties to celebrate when Nigel Farage, Malcolm Offord and Reform UK are dispatched to the bin, where in my view, they should be. Count on it.

Andy Stenton, Glasgow.

MSP Amanda Bland (left) has quit Reform (Image: Getty)

Inequality and wealth creation

The tired claim that Britain’s poverty is caused solely by inequality deserves further scrutiny. You do not make the poor richer by making the rich poorer. Russia, Cuba and Venezuela stand as grim monuments to that illusion: systems that promised equality merely concentrated wealth in the hands of dictators and their cronies while ordinary people sank into abject poverty. In the worst cases, worthless local currencies forced citizens to scramble for dollars simply to buy essentials.

In Scotland, HMRC figures for 2023–24 show the top 5% of taxpayers contributed roughly 45% of all income tax – at a time when 44% of adults paid none at all.

In my view, much of today’s inequality traces back to deindustrialisation. Globalisation tore through well-paid blue-collar jobs, while punishingly high energy costs – driven in part by net zero zealotry – have further gutted British industry and decent jobs.

When hope is lost because significant numbers of society can no longer find rewarding, productive work, deep chasms open up and the blame game begins. Just look at France.

Britain’s real priority must be wealth creation: serious investment in vocational skills, reliable low-cost energy, and productive jobs. Also encourage enterprise and create genuine opportunities for people to raise their living standards through work – not benefits purely to exist. As the old saying goes: give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to fish and you feed him for life. Help people climb the ladder. Do not saw off the top rungs – we need those who reach them for aspiration, and to pay the nation’s bills.

Ian Lakin, Aberdeen.

Pension discredit

My husband is approaching 80 and received a letter from the UK Government with the following opening sentences: “Now that you are approaching 80, you are entitled to a higher amount of State Pension. Age addition of 25p per week will be payable from your 80th birthday.”

You read this correctly, 25p per week! Do these civil servants and politicians have any idea of how this makes a pensioner who is struggling with energy costs, for example, feel? What planet are these politicians on?

Susan Grant, Tain.