March 31: Your views on the election and why SNP power in Parliament is mere fantasy

ALEX Salmond is a dreamer. He dreamed up the price of North Sea Oil, and of keeping the pound in an independent Scotland. Now he fantasises on SNP power in Parliament.

Ed Miliband, if in a minority in Parliament, would frame a Queen’s Speech which included scrapping the bedroom tax, freezing energy prices, votes at 16, ending privatisation in the NHS, enforcing the living wage in government contracts and massive house building and a repair programme, including Scotland.

Will any SNP MPs vote down this programme with Tory support? Nicola Sturgeon should gag Mr Salmond and his pro-Tory campaign in England.

From: Martin Hall, Woodhouse Lane, Beighton.

IS Labour to be trusted on zero-hours contracts, or is Ukip? Hmm. Let me see. There are a mere 62 Labour MPs currently employing workers on such a basis. Not too bad some 19 years after Tony Blair said: “There will be an end to zero-hour contracts.”

Perhaps another 19 years will allow them time to put this abomination to bed. Happily for voters, Ukip does mean it – and as soon as elected.

From: June Warner, Kirk Deighton.

WHEN our shores were recently threatened by a mystery, rogue submarine, we did not possess sufficient military strength even to investigate. We had to send to Nato partners Canada and the US for help. If our leaders are not good at geography, I must explain that Canada is rather a long way away. (No help via the EU, of course, although thanks are due to France for some limited assistance).

Our forces are now at their lowest level since the days of Napoleon when our population was less than 17 per cent of what it is today. Of all the parties – apparently, only Ukip recognises the vital need to be able to defend our own coastline.

From: Dave Asher, Pickard Crescent, Sheffield.

WHENEVER one of the 2,200 or so Ukip candidates at last year’s council elections said something out of line, it was front-page headline news. In any large group of people, it’s easy for some to slip through the net, although the party is already tightening up selection procedures.

Opponents of Ukip have a vested interest in attacking the party, but ultimately such distortions simply alienate more people from politics. Let’s hope for a much cleaner campaign at this year’s General Election.

From: DS Boyes, Rodley Lane, Leeds.

THE comments of unemployed Mr Kasatkin (The Yorkshire Post, March 21) will have found many sympathetic ears in Leeds I am sure, including my own.

Of the eight MPs who served Leeds in the last Parliament, in my opinion at least, three fall into the category of ‘absentees’, ie London-based ‘career’ politicians foisted on our constituencies at the behest of Labour Party HQ with genuine ‘local’ activists clearly frozen out of the selection process, reputedly in one case the actual incumbent.

As a lifelong resident of Leeds West, I valued our previous – local – MP John Battle who never, ever failed to respond to any query or request for help and advice.

In contrast is his successor, Rachel Reeves, who seems to find it difficult, even impossible, to reply to constituents’ letters, yet apparently has unlimited time at her disposal for photo shoots or TV appearances.

It is precisely this situation that puts me and many other older people off voting altogether.

From: Phil Hanson, Beechmount Close, Baildon, Shipley.

WHILE redundancies are always a sad experience, I am afraid that the timing and facts behind Kellingley pit are not as bad as many people may think!

The reported facts are that the taxpayer was being asked to subsidise at the rate of £75,000 a job which is not acceptable when we have all to pay our way. The job market has grown and continues to do so, and not with minimum wage and zero hours contracts as Labour would have us believe.

We acknowledge mining as relatively high risk and in this day and age we owe it to them to create jobs that are much safer and have potential for future generations.

Coal consumption in the UK is in planned decline and is also the cause of higher bills for consumers as they trigger green taxes on our fuel bills. Progress stops for no one, but as a consolation, jobs are out there and retraining/self employment is open to anyone with the courage to take the step.

From: Ken Fleming, Springbank Road, Gildersome, Leeds.

WITH the General Election very imminent, I know David Cameron and George Osborne are not everybody’s cup of tea, but what is the other option? Ed Miliband and Ed Balls? As John McEnroe famously said: “You cannot be serious.”

How did Miliband get the job? By his paymaster Len McCluskey who has more influence than the two Eds. Then to top it all we have the SNP – defeated in the Scottish independence vote – threatening to hold the power in Westminster. The mind boggles. Nicola Surgeon and Alex Salmond would demand more money spent on a population of five million compared to a country with 54 million.

Whilst I am getting things of my chest, I feel that the 190+ members of the UN are doing hardly anything to stop ISIS militants marching all over the Middle East.