ARE you a pro-independence voter who is considering voting Labour because it is the only party that can defeat the Conservatives? This will not work. Not since 1974 has the English electorate voted for a Labour Party with left-of-centre policies. Any seats the left-of-centre Labour manifesto policies win in Scotland will be more than countered by the number they lose in England.

The historical facts are clear. The last time England voted Conservative and got a Labour government was in February 1974. For more than 26 of the past 47 years, six Conservative and one Conservative/LibDem coalition government have ruled over Scotland (see below), despite Scotland returning a majority of Labour MPs.

Conservative: June 18, 1970, to 28 Feb 28, 1974 – three years and seven months.
Conservative: May 3, 1979, to June 9, 1983 – four years and one month.
Conservative: June 9, 1983, to June 11, 1987 – four years.
Conservative: June 11, 1987, to April 9, 1992 – four years and 10 months.
Conservative: April 9, 1992, to May, 1997 – five years and one month.
Conservative/LibDem coalition: May 6, 2010, to May 7, 2015 – five years.

Total: 26 years and seven months.

At the General Elections preceding all of these periods of government, and in 2015, if every SNP seat had been taken by Labour, Scotland would still have been ruled by a Conservative government. Even if Scottish voters vote for Labour at this election, it is extremely likely that Scotland will be ruled by a Conservative government voted in by the English electorate.

What are the risks? A losing Labour Party are likely to remove an unsuccessful Jeremy Corbyn and move back to a right-of-centre Blairite position, resulting in even less effective protection from Conservative policies, such as when Labour voted in 2015 with the Conservatives to extend austerity measures.

UK-wide parties will always have to give priority to what English voters want; they are, by far, the largest number of voters in this democracy. Although you will struggle to see any coverage of any of this in the media, the SNP MPs elected in 2015 represented Scotland well, opposing policies which are contrary to the best interest of the Scottish people, including voting against continuation of austerity, and asking many more questions in the Commons than had previous Labour MPs. Any significant fall in the 56 pro-independence seats won in 2015 will be used as an excuse to legitimise a Conservative government’s refusal to approve a second independence vote, which Labour in Scotland have also indicated they will oppose, no matter how badly Scotland fares under that government and its Brexit negotiations. It is more important than ever that you vote for your pro-independence candidate. Otherwise, you risk Scotland having little more prospect of future independence than any other northern part of greater England.
Jim Stamper
via email

WITH regard to Harry Corrigan’s letter (North Sea tax figure does not add up, May 30). Assuming the supply figures he quotes for gas (50 per cent of the UK total requirement) and oil (62 per cent of UK total requirement) are correct and that Scotland’s energy requirements are approximately 10 per cent of that of the UK, we would have a massive surplus in gas and oil.

Put another way, we would have enough for our own domestic consumption – about 20 per cent of the total extracted – 80 per cent to take to the market.

What a poor country we are.
Douglas Stanley
Ayr

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MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD IF YOU SPENT TIME IN THE CARE SECTOR

WE were delighted to see the announcement of the members of the independent care review group, the body established to undertake a review of our care system. This marks an important step in our country’s efforts to revolutionise the care system for children and young people, and we were pleased to see that this group boasted five care experienced people, who will be able to highlight the challenges that so many of those in care face. In the following weeks and months, the independent body will hear from young people, their families, and professionals involved in the care system, helping to build something that works for those that need it most. As part of the evidence the review group will consider, Who Cares? Scotland has been asked to deliver their 1000 Voices project. It will give all care-experienced people a safe, independent, dedicated space to share their views and we would urge all those with care experience in Scotland to get involved and play a part in building a better care system.

For too many care experienced children and young people the prospects are not good, despite many of those who grow up in care going on to do great things, and the incredible job done by staff and foster carers who work with them. For example, only six per cent go to university, nearly half will suffer mental health issues and a third of the adult prison population are people who lived in care when they were growing up.

No nation has previously undertaken such a review, and by entering into an open conversation with those that have experience of care, we have the potential to deliver a review that rebuilds a broken system, and truly changes lives for the better.
The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition: Duncan Dunlop, Who Cares? Scotland; Tom McGhee, Spark of Genius; Sophie Pilgrim, Kindred Scotland; Stuart Jacob, Falkland House School; Niall Kelly, Young Foundations; Liz May, Action for Sick Children Scotland

SALMAN Abedi, the suicide bomber who killed 22 people in Manchester, was part of a jihadist terrorist group inspired by al-Qaeda which took full advantage of the UK Government’s open-door policy which allowed Libyan exiles and British-Libyan citizens to join the 2011 uprising that overthrew Gaddafi, even though some of the terrorists had been subject to counter-terrorism control orders.

The security services knew this policy carried the danger that one or more of these “controlled” terrorists might become a loose cannon and practise their appalling black art on the domestic population. Not only did they know this, they had a specific term for it – blowback.

If this is true, the UK Government, with Theresa May as Home Secretary, approved the policy and agreed to subject UK citizens to this risk, in order to further whatever policy they had which found terrorism a useful tool.

It is now clear how it was possible for the police to very quickly round up this bunch of possible terrorists and why no action was taken when people reported concerns to the authorities that Salman Abedi was dangerous. If Theresa May was aware of such a policy, then she was guilty of knowingly putting British lives at risk. This would mean she is not fit to stand in a democratic election in the UK and should withdraw. Or do we no longer expect honour, or taking responsibility from our politicians any more?
Andy Anderson
Dunoon

THE article on JFK and Scotland (The National, May 30) included a quote in which he said “Scotland has been a lost cause”. This comment was contradicted by the author John Steinbeck, who said: “You talked of Scotland as a lost cause and that is not true. Scotland is an unwon cause.” We have made progress since 1963.
Ken MacColl
Oban

DESPITE the Scottish Greens only fielding three General Election candidates, co-convener Patrick Harvie has unveiled their manifesto. This included claims a “Green industrial revolution” could create 200,000 new jobs in Scotland. Perhaps Mr Harvie could detail exactly where these will jobs will be created and how many Scottish workers will be employed.
Clark Cross
Linlithgow