Readers' Letters: Scots Tories' plan to send prisoners overseas doomed to fail

There is in fact little precedent for such arrangements in Europe and evidence from two past schemes and two that are planned is limited.

The costs of one past scheme, between Norway and Netherlands, spiralled far beyond expected. Its model of “shared jurisdiction” created a legal gap that undermined basic protections for those individuals transferred. A scheme between Denmark and Kosovo has taken five years to negotiate and put into operation.

Extra-territorial prison schemes fundamentally shift thinking about national sovereignty over prisons policy, and our work shows they pose major challenges to governance, accountability and oversight. They also bring countless new practical challenges to resolve, for effective rehabilitation, for family visiting rights, for healthcare provision, and for resettlement.

The general public rightly expect a prison system that works, but long-term solutions to overcrowding will not be found in convoluted arrangements that over-promise solutions without owning up to the new challenges they create.

Louise Finer, Visiting Fellow, University of Bristol; Thomas Guiney, Assistant Professor of Criminology, University of Nottingham; Lorna McGregor Professor of Law, University of Essex

Tax grab

I have received a letter from the government, that is the Inland Revenue, informing me that I must repay the winter fuel allowance paid into my bank account last year.

I never asked for the payment but I received it anyway. Given the existing ‘rules’ I understand the need to refund this unasked for money and I am happy to do so.

But here’s the kicker. The repayment is to made by adjusting my tax code for this year. That small change means I will be pushed into higher tax bracket and so shall pay far more than the unrequested winter fuel payment.

I was not asked to simply return the money by bank transfer (or other means). Why not? Is this just another cynical tax grab?

Robert Cooper, Edinburgh

Russian threat

“We see you your activity over our cables and our pipelines” was the belligerent call of UK Defence Secretary John Healey. Meanwhile BBC Scotland reported that Russian submarines had “retreated” and had been “deterred”. In reality we learned that two Russian spy submarines spent a month monitoring UK cables and pipelines. Military experts claim they would be able to monitor internet traffic. They may also have been in advanced planning to blow up assets like the vital gas pipeline from Norway which the UK now relies on for 77 per cent of our gas imports, and sever vital communication networks used for financial transactions.

The Royal Navy has around four ageing anti-submarine frigates and destroyers operational at any one time and new replacement frigates being built on the Clyde are several years late. Russian oil tankers and submarines can openly ply the English Channel unhindered, so much for sanctions enforcement. While France was able to send an armada of 11 warships to the Mediterranean in response to Iranian attacks the UK sent HMS Dragon several days later to defend our base in Cyprus. What are the 50,000 civil servants employed in defence planning doing? Could resources be better deployed to the front line?

Kemi Badenoch has demanded the publication of the long-awaited defence investment plan. The government is asleep at the wheel while our Russian adversaries conduct hybrid warfare drills on undersea assets off our western seaboard. We see you but we can’t do anything just about sums it up, Mr Healey.

Neil Anderson, Edinburgh

No desire for peace

Israel has not stopped committing genocide. It has only transferred its genocidal intentions from Gaza to Lebanon, where, in one day, it murdered more than 300 people in central Beirut and injured over 1,000 more. Meanwhile, breaching another ceasefire, the killing in Gaza continues.

The pretext was that they were targeting Hezbollah, but this was a random attack on innocent citizens. The truth is that Israel, or at least, Benjamin Netanyahu, doesn’t want peace, or even a pause in the fighting, whereas Donald Trump is desperately seeking a way out of the unwinnable Iranian war.

President Trump’s “cry wolf” tactic, promising oblitereration and a destruction that never happens, is becoming repetitive, to the point of being boring. Conducting an unpopular war in a faraway country, the very thing that he promised not to do, is beginning to take its toll. Here's hoping that the present two-week fragile ceasefire can evolve to a lasting peace.

Ian Petrie, Edinburgh

Treasure buried

It was with dismay that I read your story (10 April) on the proposal by Michael Morpurgo to retell the story of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic Treasure Island.

Why is this necessary? Is the plot unsuitable for today’s politically correct readers? Treasure Island has been enjoyed and appreciated by many generations of reader, being one of the great classic tales of adventure and daring. Long may it contiue in its present shape and form.

Sandy Macpherson, Edinburgh

Coalition fear

As the race for Holyrood victory hots up it is becoming clear that the SNP appears to think it has victory assured, but this is misplaced optimism. If the polls are not quite correct we appear to be facing the usual scenario of an SNP “win” but not by a majority. This is where we have a major problem.

The last time this happened, the SNP teamed up with the Greens. Who actually voted for that? We are now witnessing a Green party that has policies or serious leanings verging upon the extreme including proposals over prisons and allowing Class A drug usage. Scotland is still a democracy so unless the Green party comes second to the SNP in the popular vote surely the SNP cannot contemplate ruling us in coordination with a party that does not have a broad sweep of popular support? This would fly in the face of our principles of devolution and would lead to yet more disruption if Green policies clash, yet again, with the wishes of the voting public. Can we therefore have a declaration from John Swinney that any coalition must be supported by the voting figures and not simply cobbled together behind closed doors? If not, why not?

Gerald Edwards, Glasgow

Caring roles

I was pleased to read that Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce argues, among other things, for devolved, tailored migration routes to help tackle persistent staff shortages in health and social care (your report, 10 April).

In the last few weeks of my late wife’s life we finally managed to get a care package from the local authority. Of the 12 carers who looked after my wife during that period with professionalism and compassion, 11 spoke English with a foreign accent. Are these the people Reform wishes to deport?

Michael Grey, Edinburgh

Managers’ value

It is easy to criticise NHS administrators, and, as suggested by Russell Findlay, they should be targets for cuts (Jane Lax’s letter, 9 April). They don't scrub up and mend your fractured hip, or give vaccines, or interpret scans. But they are necessary, because their jobs are to make sure that operating theatres have enough saws and scalpels, that vaccine programmes are organised, and that scanners are bought and installed.

When I started working with the NHS, management was by committee. It was slow, inefficient, and often driven by special interests. My personal experience was that the introduction of General Managers turned things round.

I recall local physicians in a certain speciality declining to bid for more resources, even though it would have been easy to make a strong case. The General Manager sussed them out. More consultants would have reduced earnings from private practice.

Hugh Pennington, Aberdeen

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