XANDER Elliard’s article “FM: Truss would not be PM if Indy Bill rules applied” (Sep 6) shows the stark reality of the Tories’ flexibility on rules for them and us.

Although only 47% of the members of the Conservative and Unionist Party who were eligible to vote in the leadership election voted for Liz Truss, she is now Prime Minister of the UK – leading the party which, in contrast to its massive majority in the UK Parliament, won only 29% of the total eligible vote in the 2019 General Election.

The public knows very little about the 172,437 Conservative Party members eligible to vote in the leadership election, as that includes an unknown number of people living outside the UK, eligible through membership of Conservatives Abroad, the British Conservative Party’s global network of members and supporters living overseas. Membership of Conservatives Abroad is open to anyone, no need to be a UK citizen or voter.

It is administered by the Cities of London and Westminster Conservative Association. Anyone joining this association as an overseas member becomes a member of the Conservative Party and of Conservatives Abroad – entitled to all the benefits of party membership, including participation in the Conservative Policy Forum, attendance at party conferences and a vote in the election of the party leader.

READ MORE: No more kicking the can or playing by UK rules – Scotland needs independence

It appears strange that the insular Tories, who are so determined to have control over everything within the UK’s borders, should allow outsiders to take part in the election of the person who becomes the UK’s prime minister.

The Tories have already sought to gain electoral advantage in General Elections by amending eligibility requirements for people living outwith the UK. Until this year there were usually around 100,000 voters living overseas and registered to vote in UK General Elections and their eligibility lapsed after living abroad for 15 years. In April 2022 the Elections Act (2022) extended lifelong eligibility to any UK citizen who had ever lived in the UK.

It is estimated that an additional 2,300,000 British citizens around the world will be able to register to vote in General Elections in the last constituency in which they lived before their departure from the UK.

The Electoral Commission estimates the General Election electorate at approximately 46.5 million, including the 100,000 overseas voters (0.2%). This could potentially rise to 48.8m including 2.4m overseas voters (5.1%). Even if there is a much smaller increase in registrations it could still have a significant influence on the result of a UK General Election.

The Tories might shy away from the crude 50% of the total electorate but there is no doubt that they will attempt to minimise the vote for Scottish independence by some less obvious means.

John Jamieson

South Queensferry

UNLIKE her heroine Thatcher, Liz Truss is bereft of ideology or knowledge. She says we will ride out the storm. Has she a sea anchor ready, and where is it? Are the hatches battened down? Has someone secured the head-valves? It is obvious from the pollution of English rivers that no-one has bothered. I do not expect that she will understand any of that because, as a woman who cannot tell the difference between the Baltic and the Black Seas, she really needs to learn a little about the world before using similes she cannot understand. The UK is currently adrift under bare poles and taking in water.

As foreign secretary she was surprised to learn that there was a religious issue in Northern Ireland, yet appoints an anti-abortion parliamentarian as her Secretary for Health while claiming that she will overturn the Scottish Government’s position on LGBT rights. She answers Ian Blackford, the SNP’s Westminster leader, by advocating new drilling in the North Sea and nuclear energy while he represents the leading country in the world for new green energy – wind, solar and tidal. The woman’s ignorance and lack of diplomacy are beyond credibility in one who is elected to save this fragile Union.

I do not blame the Tory voters who were beguiled by the faded memories of Empire, but I most certainly blame each individual member of the Conservative Party. You, and you alone, have placed your precious United Kingdom into the hands of an illiterate, ignorant, ill-informed opportunist bereft of ideas, diplomacy, wisdom or knowledge.

My fellow Scots, it is high time to take to our “independence” life boat and cast off from the foundering vessel that is the UK and let us pick up the survivors. They will need all the help we can give them.

KM Campbell

Doune

REGARDING the piece “Junior doctors ‘exhausted, depleted and struggling’”(Sep 8) I’d just like to let everyone who read this “breaking news” know that the abysmal working conditions described have existed for more than 50 YEARS and probably longer.

READ MORE: My mum supported Scottish independence and the Queen - this is why

I have a clear memory of a conversation with now deceased doctor (subsequently mister, as he became a surgeon) Ian Allen, and listened to him describing the atrocious conditions endured by junior doctors.

They were/are being used and abused for nothing but financial reasons by successive uncaring managers.

Apparently our “caring” NHS doesn’t extend to junior doctors. In case anyone thinks I’m banging this drum for a relative, I have NO connection with any junior doctor.

Barry Stewart

Blantyre

WAS I the only one at the newsagent on Thursday morning who gazed at the proliferation of front pages carrying a photo of the Cambridges taking their kids to school and thought, I wonder if they had difficulty buying all these new school uniforms, and come to think about it, did they manage to give their kids a nutritious breakfast before they left home?

Kate Armstrong

via email