Readers letters: Proper leadership is needed if Scotland is to thrive

Grangemouth is closing partially because of SNP (and Green) slavish acceptance that we are hugely responsible for climate change. The same two parties appear to think we can change sex or can run an entire country purely on renewable energy and so it goes on. Scotland has made big mistakes. The fallout can be seen with the panic over Grangemouth and the crisis at Edinburgh rape centre and so on. Scotland needs leaders who are forward thinkers, not those easily led by whatever fad is in vogue. Where are they?

Gerald Edwards, Glasgow

Border control

Mark Campbell Roddis claims that the Schengen Agreement allows asylum seekers and economic migrants to travel across member states of the EU unhindered (Letters, 13 September).

I would dispute that. Every EU citizen had acquired that right under the Lisbon Treaty. Schengen merely extended it to tourists, exchange students, business people, etc who were temporary visitors to the EU. However, you had to prove you had the means to sustain yourself for six months minimum so that you were not a burden on the member state in question.

Asylum seekers can only move freely across internal borders if they have been accepted for asylum or if granted temporary residence as per Article 79 on the Functioning of the EU.

Where economic migrants are concerned the Article states that “This Article shall not affect the right of Member States to determine volumes of admission of third-country nationals coming from third countries to their territory in order to seek work, whether employed or self-employed”.

That requires border checks as well as work permits. In any event under the Treaty's security provisions it is the responsibility of member states to maintain secure borders with third countries albeit with exceptions being granted such as between Norway and Sweden and between the Irish Republic and the UK.

Indeed it was the UK government who sought to maintain an open border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic after Brexit. This has led to an influx of asylum seekers and others who are currently allowed to roam free in the UK and who are now pouring across the border into the Republic as they seek to avoid detention and deportation. The irony is that Schengen was designed to prevent that happening by requiring checks along the EU’s external borders before entry was permitted or refused.

Robert Menzies, Falkirk

Another fine mess

It is not the Prime Minister who has ‘not made any attempt to understand Scottish affairs’ but your correspondent Ni Holmes, who makes that charge (Letters, 13 September).

Ni Holmes should read the most recent report of the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC), an independent scrutinising authority. The SFC’s chair, Professor Graeme Roy, said in August 2024 that ‘The past choices of the Scottish government (SG) narrow its room for manoeuvre now and in the future…. Previous pay settlements… social security payments, and the council tax freeze have all added to the in-year pressures’ on public finances.

Prof Roy has not put it as colourfully as Sir Keir, but the SFC warns that the SG is ‘now facing a challenge in balancing its budget’ because of the unwise choices it has itself made.

Criticism of the SG’s ‘lack of prudent planning’ also comes from Dr João Sousa of the Fraser of Allander Institute.

Both he and David Phillips of the Institute for Fiscal Studies agree that the SG could have acted more prudently ‘and set a Budget with a bit more leeway for pay and other pressures’.

That is, there was no planning for contingencies. Professor James Mitchell adds that ‘There have been warnings for years re financial sustainability. If [the new] Chancellor’s statement really has just awakened the SG to challenges then Government has been asleep’.

Ni Holmes complains about the new Labour government not showing ‘more respect to Scotland’. Like so many nationalists, Ni Holmes conflates the SNP regime with ‘Scotland’. It is the SG, not ‘Scotland’, that these experts are rightly criticising for getting into what Laurel and Hardy called ‘another fine mess’.

Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh

Foot shooting

The sad, entirely-predictable, “Hammer Blow” at Grangemouth, and the demise of quality steel making at Port Talbot should serve as an early warning of further net-zero job losses to come.

Bearing in mind that 97 per cent of all global transportation still uses fossil fuels, the only thing Just Stop Oil, the Greens and the Scottish Government have given us so far is a Masterclass in Foot Shooting!

George Herraghty, Moray

Grangemouth loss

Scotland is second only to Norway for oil and gas production in Europe and has contributed £400 billion to the Treasury in London. However, the UK government can find billions to subsidise key industries, except in Scotland.

Last month “Energy Voice” reported that the Stanlow oil refinery in north west England is getting ready to expand and sell more fuel when Grangemouth closes by investing in infrastructure and saying, “we think conventional oil products are going to be around for a long time”. Stanlow is part of Hynet which was granted Track 1 status by the UK government for massive investment as the first carbon capture and hydrogen hub ahead of Scotland’s much better claims. In February, the UK government provided a £600 million guarantee for Ineos to build a petrochemical plant in Antwerp, Belgium with it expected to be the largest petrochemical plant in Europe in 30 years. The government led by Alex Salmond and John Swinney saved Grangemouth from closure in October 2013 after Unite Union officials threatened to bring about an industrial catastrophe.

Earlier this week, Tata Steel and the UK Government signed a grant funding agreement worth £500 million, allowing Tata Steel to proceed with its plans to install a state-of-the-art Electric Arc Furnace at its Port Talbot steelworks in Wales. Tata will own all the assets and income streams, while the government will get no shares and the amount is not repayable. In 2023, the Drax power plant in North Yorkshire received £539 million in direct government subsidies for burning forest biomass. This brings the total public subsidy the company has received for biomass to around £7 billion since 2012. Also, the nuclear power industry is subsidised by billions as part of a UK energy policy that has totally failed Scotland.

Mary Thomas, Edinburgh

Misguided

The imminent closure of Scotland’s only oil refinery, the Grangemouth Refinery, is a stark reminder of the disastrous consequences of the misguided net-zero agenda. With 400 skilled workers facing unemployment, it’s evident that both the SNP-led Scottish Executive and the Labour-run UK Government have failed Scotland and the UK on a monumental scale.

This refinery has been a cornerstone of Scotland’s industrial might, delivering not only essential products but also vital employment to the local community. Yet, under the guise of pursuing net-zero goals, these elitist politicians have chosen to prioritise their green rhetoric over the real livelihoods of hard-working individuals.

The SNP and Labour’s out-of-touch policies are driving our nation into an economic quagmire.

Their relentless push towards renewable energy has ignored the immediate economic and social impacts on our working population. The closure of Grangemouth is not just a loss of jobs but a stark reminder of their failure to balance environmental goals with economic realities.

It’s time for a reality check. Scotland and the UK deserve leaders who will address the pressing needs of their constituents, not those who chase lofty, unattainable targets while neglecting the daily struggles of their people.

Alastair Redman, Port Charlotte, Isle of Islay

Reality please

The loss of jobs in Wales with the electrification of steel processing, the loss of jobs in the Scottish oil and gas sectors plus the end of refining at Grangemouth detailed in the Analysis article of 13 September shows that a net-zero policy will bankrupt both the Holyrood and Westminster Budgets and lead to massive job losses.

What should replace such a strategy is an As Low As Economically Possible (ALAEP) where a Just Transition operates to the funds available to transfer work out of the carbon economy as and when both funds and jobs are available.

In addition, there will never be the demand for sustainable aviation fuel in Scotland hence the Economic Secretary should press Ed Miliband to adopt a sustainable vehicle fuel policy thus allowing rural drivers to maintain their internal combustion engine cars.

Why continue with with an expensive EV policy where the public cannot afford the price of an electric car? After all, if a UK Green Transition adds £6 trillion to the National Debt then a net-zero policy is dead in the water.

Ian Moir, Castle Douglas

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