Humza Yousaf can't blame his own party's shortcomings on the Greens

In the face of an ailing SNP, a rightward-shifting Labour Party, and few other left-wing options for voters, Scottish Greens will stand in scores of Westminster seats. This is a fantastic opportunity to put clear Green water between us and a party who are struggling to stay ahead in the polls.

Ross Greer was absolutely right to say in response to the First Minister: “Only the Scottish Greens recognise that capitalism is the problem and that half-measures simply won’t do...” but this is even more important in the context of where the independence movement is now.

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The next few years will be crucial as we look to create the kind of future we want for Scotland. Unfortunately, for socialists like me, neither the SNP or Labour are furthering a progressive agenda which will tackle the most pressing issues of today and tomorrow. Despite the climate emergency, the oil and gas industry still has a hold over both parties, and right-wing forces are gaining influence with the SNP and Labour at a rate of knots.

The Tory vote has now all but collapsed across the UK, and Labour look set to form the next government. Current polling even makes clear that will be the case, regardless of who wins in Scotland. There has never been a better time to outline a radical, ambitious future for Scotland – something lacking from mainstream discussions about the future of the independence movement at present.

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Scottish Greens should use the election to make clear that they are the only party working for the future, prioritising working people over corporate powers, and protecting our planet in the process.

For the First Minister to now use the broken democracy of Westminster’s voting system to shore up his own support is extremely disappointing. Humza Yousaf is happy to describe Scottish Green Party votes as “wasted” in the General Election this year, but without those same party’s votes he’d have no coalition to govern in Scotland.

Humza Yousaf may be feeling the pressure to meet his own 29-seat target at Westminster, fighting off the SNP’s own centre-right forces challenging his leadership. But attempts to lay the blame for his party’s own shortcomings at the door of his partners in government will only weaken his own position. Instead, the people of Scotland should look beyond this self-interest and vote to put politicians in Westminster who will work for them, for Scotland, and for the future of the planet.

Niall Christie (he/him)
Scottish Green Party member, Glasgow

THE bitterness towards Alba expressed in your letters columns recently is totally out of order. If the SNP was a broader church and more accommodating to differing opinions, perhaps Alba wouldn’t exist.

And let’s face it, the SNP’s recent strategies show they don’t have a monopoly on common sense.

As an SNP member I want to see them (the SNP) respect and work together with all within the independence movement in common cause. I think some of your contributors’ time would be better spent venting their spleen on our real enemies. It’s the people whose priorities lie outwith Scotland and yet have control of our everyday lives that deserve all our attention.

James Arthur
Paisley

AFTER singularly failing to disparage Alex Salmond with preposterous half truths, flawed analysis and innuendo, George T Watt iced his cake of ire with the statement, “Alex Salmond started Alba with one intent and that was to scupper the SNP” (Letters, April 4).

Not the first SNP member to do so, Mr Watt has clearly got it wrong!

The reason Alba exists is because the SNP have failed miserably to advance the case for independence – nothing more, nothing less. We’ve witnessed abject failure from Sturgeon to Yousaf to convince us they have any intention of actually campaigning and driving the cause. Indeed, it seems they just want to coast along, putting party before country, in the hope that if the wider movement were to achieve independence then the party would be in place to pick up the glory.

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As such Alba, as is usual for new political parties, may well take some time to build up the necessary momentum to be a political force in the Scottish political diaspora, notoriously difficult to achieve without full access to an unbiased media, but an invaluable project nevertheless.

Meanwhile Alba’s role is surely to promote the very independence the SNP seem shy to do. Perhaps Mr Watt and his SNP colleagues, rather than sniping at those who are actively advocating Scotland’s independence, should ask of his party’s leadership why it has failed to do so, particularly given that we are living through the best circumstances to persuade Scots that an independent Scotland offers relief from being subjugated and impoverished by broken Britain.

I don’t believe this SNP will deliver indy. It has no plan. It fails to use the political weapons it has. It fails to recognise omelettes can’t be made without breaking eggs. It’s operating in a cosy political world and is intent on adhering to Westminster’s rules, which mitigate against we Scots and any prospect of independence.

I’d love to be proved wrong. However, SNP members just aren’t asking the questions, happy to just plod along watching their party’s popularity slip, and Scotland’s independence prospect with it.

Jim Taylor
(for) Scotland