Rory Scothorne suggests that Westminster had a hand in Humza Yousaf’s demise (Humza Yousaf’s clumsiness meant he had to jump – but Westminster also gave him a push, 29 April). In fact, the majority of the electorate in Scotland do not want a second independence referendum, the gender recognition reform bill contravened the UK-wide Equality Act, and the deposit return scheme was ill thought through. Yousaf was the architect of his own demise via a pattern of lack of judgment.
Announcing a council tax freeze without consulting his partners in government and the local authorities that would have to fund the freeze, chasing Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president, for a photo opportunity, and the decision to dump the Greens did it. A politician lacking political nous will always have his coat on a shoogly peg.
David Sinclair
Edinburgh
• Your article says Kate Forbes, who lost last year’s SNP leadership contest to Hamza Yousaf, “pushed a much more mainstream policy agenda” (SNP looks to unity candidate after Humza Yousaf quits as first minister, 29 April). It then goes on to describe her “socially conservative views on abortion, gender reform and same-sex marriage”. Is it now the Guardian’s view that opposing abortion, same-sex marriage and gender recognition reform are considered “mainstream” policies?
Ed Pybus
Tighnabruaich, Argyll and Bute
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