I WATCHED most of Humza Yousaf’s Perth speech on the internet and judging by the fairly sparse attendance, others perhaps did the same. I later found the text online on the SNP’s website. It stated it would be a 12-minute read but I managed to read most of it in around three minutes.

In essence it was nearly 3500 words to say the Tories are bad, Labour are just as bad, vote SNP to make Scotland Tory-free. What seemed to be missing was even a passing reference to what an independent Scotland might look like. Even a wee bit of inspiration would have gone a long way.

READ MORE: Humza Yousaf urges SNP to 'make Scotland Tory free' as election looms 

I don’t vote SNP to make Scotland Tory-free, I vote SNP to see an independent Scotland, hopefully in my lifetime. We need to convince at least some Tory voters that the SNP have the ability to run a devolved parliament in a competent fashion and that we have the potential to govern an independent nation, not spend our remaining time, limited money and precious efforts to make lots of Tory voters somehow disappear into a Highland mist before early November. I thought his use of the phrase “From the Highlands to the Borders, let’s rid this country of Tory MPs once and for all” was, to say the very least, unwise.

It seems the SNP’s kamikaze campaign tactics sadly remain attempting to capture the small number of remaining Tory seats regardless of the number of seats that might, at the same time, transfer from SNP to Labour. As the General Election draws ever closer I continue to see SNP MPs sitting on the green benches of the House of Commons. In many of their seats the main challenger was, is and always will be the Labour Party. On the basis of recent option polls and by-election results, many will simply not return to those green benches after the General Election.

I fear that for those of my generation, born in 1950s, who have supported the SNP since the 1970s, the dream is dying. The past ten years since the 2014 referendum have seen the SNP’s membership numbers half and any post-referendum momentum simply be allowed to die.

Brian Lawson
Paisley

IN a recent TV interview Humza Yousaf vowed to visit every constituency in Scotland during the election campaign. I wonder how many SNP candidates will view this more of a threat than a benefit. In the not-too-distant past a visit from the party leader would be seen as an asset to a local campaign, a chance for photo calls, meeting the activists and spotlighting local issues.

READ MORE: Expert weighs in on SNP Tory-free slogan debate amid party division

Sadly, according to recent opinion polls, Mr Yousaf is now almost as unpopular with the Scottish electorate as Labour leader Anas Sarwar. A difficult task, you might think, but one he has managed to achieve in the short space of a year. There are now only a few months to turn this situation around, but with renewed interest in the crazy campervan saga, iPad bills, CalMac ferries, ever-continuing police investigations and the policy problems of gender recognition, recycling schemes, drug deaths, and the impending introduction of the hate crime legislation, the outlook is very challenging.

Mr Yousaf has inherited some of these issues but has certainly added to a long list of problems as yet unaddressed. The fact that he seems intent on completely alienating Scotland’s potential Tory/SNP supporters in his quest to make us all Tory-MP-free while ignoring the obvious leakage of SNP support to Labour will virtually guarantee November’s election result will not be a good one for the SNP.

John Baird
Largs

JUST who is advising the SNP these days? It has been reported that senior SNP politicians are demanding the return of the campervan – which was seized amid the police investigation into missing funds – so that it can either be used for campaigning or sold to raise much-needed campaign funds.

READ MORE: Stephen Flynn jokes SNP campervan should be used by Tartan Army

This campervan is a seen as a visual representation of the disarray within the SNP, the missing funds and the arrests of Nicola Sturgeon and her husband. Why on earth would SNP politicians want to raise this issue in the minds of the public? It merely lets voters think that the SNP can’t be trusted. Along with focusing on the six Tory seats in Scotland – and ignoring that Labour are the main threat to the majority of the seats the SNP already hold – are the SNP sabotaging their own election hopes?

Alex Beckett
Paisley

MANY people are now disillusioned by the lack of accountability from all politicians and governments, including the SNP and the former power base of Nicola Sturgeon and her silent husband Peter Murrell.

Again accountability was lacking when Alex Salmond was cleared of all 13 charges of sexual misconduct following a High Court trial. As a former successful SNP leader and FM he was investigated by the Scottish Government, a process a judicial review all found to be “tainted with apparent bias”. As a result the government conceded defeat and paid out £512,000 to Mr Salmond.

READ MORE: Police take no action on 'leak' of Alex Salmond allegations

Despite the findings from the Court of Session, by Lord Pentland, that the behaviour of the former permanent secretary and her officials was “unlawful” and “unfair”, not one person has been held accountable.

However, in this crucial election year all independence groupings must come together and vote accordingly. Honest answers must be provided to honest questions, with accountability guaranteed.

Grant Frazer
Newtonmore

ALL Yessers should be apprehensive about Michael Gove’s comments in his statement defining extremism to the House of Commons, as this leaves the door open to labelling them as a group which (according to him) could undermine the “British concept of ‘constitutional’ freedom”. That will be the next step (given the chance)!

Paul Gillon
Leven