Readers Letters: Scots remain voiceless as the central belt thrives

Again whilst the SNP delivered a plush tram service in Edinburgh, rural Scots in the Highlands still await the end of the dualling of the A9 whilst those living in rural Galloway must still endure travelling the A75 – the longest goat track in Europe.

Why has John Swinney failed to implement the pledge, made In December 2020 by Aileen Campbell on behalf of the Party, to incorporate into law the Wightman bill devolving both financial and political powers out of Edinburgh to Local Councils as per the European Charter of Local Self-Government.

Surely a 2020 pledge takes precedence of a pledge on IndyRef2 or does John Swinney only speak for those Scots living in the Central Belt whilst rural Scots are voiceless in Edinburgh?

Ian Moir, Castle Douglas, Dumfries and Galloway

Worn argument

In yesterday’s Scotsman letters page Doug Clark trots out the well worn argument that Scotland benefits mightily from the Union via the Barnet Formula and that economic poverty would follow Independence. This would be true if in fact nothing else changed on and after independence.

However if an independent Scotland did not veto a large Chinese wind turbine factory in Scotland or did not let Grangemouth collapse unlike Scunthorpe in the south, or that Scottish taxpayers did not continue to cover the wages of UK government departments and agencies based in London, or that the revenues of UK wide businesses cease to be accrued to head offices based in London, or that Scotland rejoined the Customs Union/Single Market and eventually the EU thereby potentially recovering GDP losses due to Brexit, then perhaps the economic outlook for Scotland could improve significantly.

This of course is speculation but unlike Mr Clark’s fact-free assertion that nothing would change, it does form the basis of an argument.

David Morris, Dalkeith, Midlothian

Democratic malaise

It appears that Keir Starmer will be the sixth UK Prime Minister to be rejected since Scotland’s constitutional referendum and the fourth since Brexit.

Britain is not working for any of the nations of these islands yet none of the parties shunning discussion on independence are even prepared to openly discuss federalism.

Perhaps if Gordon Brown remains as Global Finance Special Envoy some common sense will at last prevail and discussions with the devolved governments will commence in order to determine a constitutional path out of the UK’s economic, social and democratic malaise.

Simply changing Prime Minister will not end entrenched inequality and lack of sustained economic growth will continue to suffocate public services, as well as hope and ambition, throughout the UK.

Stan Grodynski, Longniddry, East Lothian

The Devil you know

Keir Starmer is defiant in saying that he will not resign. His ethos is “we have a system to replace the Prime Minister” and therefore “back me or sack me”.

If or when Keir Starmer resigns, there will be repercussions which will affect the lives of everyone in the country, not least of which will be the financial markets, because they want stability not uncertainty and certainly not chaos.

A change in the leadership would immediately cause sterling to fall and borrowing costs to rise. This would affect prices and jobs which are already under pressure from the Middle East crisis.

The Labour Party needs to assess these points before it decides to pull the trigger and elect a new leader. The party members have another conundrum: who should they vote for – Wes Streeting or Angela Rayner or someone else? Will either be any better than Keir Starmer?

The Devil you know is better than the Devil you don't.

Keir Starmer may live to fight another day.

James Macintyre, Linlithgow

Elderly funding

I cannot share Stan Grodynski's support for another SNP government in today’s letters.

For me to vote SNP, would be like turkeys voting for Christmas!

Having worked for 40 years (includes two years’ National Service) and being retired for almost 33 years, l now find that l have almost no Tax Free Allowance, and our Scottish government is busy clawing back last years Winter Fuel Allowance, something our First Minister forgot to mention during his election campaign.

It seems that it is the elderly like myself who are funding the many failed projects undertaken by this government, over almost two decades.

As the drill instructors at Catterick used to say: “Tomorrow at midday there is a rocket leaving camp, bound for the moon… you had better be on it!”

Oh if only it had been true.

George Denholm, Longniddry, East Lothian

Little has changed

Stan Grodynski argues in the Scotsman today that the number of MSPs in each party now argues for Indyref2

However in any future referendum it will be the total number of actual votes for and against that will count and not the number of MSPs. In last weeks election, in the constituency vote the four pro-independence parties totalled 41 per cent of total votes versus 57 per cent for the four unionist parties. In the regional vote the same figures were 42 per cent for pro-independence parties versus 54 per cent for unionist parties The correct inescapable conclusion is the overall opinion has little changed from the Indyref of 2014. End of story.

The use of constituencies and regions produces a distorted picture of what a referendum of the same population would show because the former meets a different goal of people having local representatives In this election another distortion is that the vast majority of pro-independence votes went to the SNP whereas unionist votes were spread widely across several parties Of course when it suits a politician they will use numbers elected to argue their case, knowing this is not actually true

Allan Struthers, Newport-on-Tay, Fife

Wheesht for Scotland

As I asked in my letter in The Scotsman on election day, would John Swinney drop his request for a referendum if he didn’t achieve the target he set himself, and we now know the answer. Of course not! Ignoring missing his target, a common theme of 20 years of SNP Government, the loss of 10 per cent of his votes, and the loss of some SNP seats, he battles on myopically.

And as we already see in letters from his keyboard warriors, demands for a referendum from his supporters and those of the Green Party, continue to grow. Yet a referendum is about votes, not seats and in this election pro independence parties took 926,000 in the constituency vote against 1,335,000 for pro-union parties, and 947,000 in the Regional vote as against 1,239,000 for pro-union parties.

As John Swinney put independence at the heart and soul of his campaign, he now has his answer. Will he please ‘wheesht for Scotland’ and get on with the day job of helping to grow the economy, encourage investment, encourage North Sea drilling, and with that growth, the self-believe those jobs bring, and the tax revenue to help those in genuine need.

Brian Barbour, Haddington

Outlander cheers

This week sees the final, final episode of Outlander, a series which started in 2013, a fantasy story of time travelling which initially plunged the audience into the world of the Jacobite rebellion of 1645.

It has taken us through the whole campaign from the advance on London after Prestonpans, through the retreat and eventual disaster at Culloden and its crushing aftermath. Before the rebellion, there was an attempt in France to stymie the whole enterprise, since the time traveller knew her history, but, as always in such stories, history is unchangeable.

The story moves on to exile in the Americas, and develops into a critique of the War of Revolution, again facing up to the reality of history, and ends, it seems, with the success of the Revolution.

All this history has been seen through the eyes of one extended family, and has featured some of the finest acting from a huge cast of Scots and other English speaking actors.

This series has been hugely successful in North America and Australasia, but remains virtually unknown here in Britain. It has produced a tourist phenomenon in Scotland and yet most Scots are unaware of its existence.

There’s no hidden agenda and no nationalist sentiment expressed. It's simply brilliant television and I have no idea why it has not been fêted here.

There’s still time to catch up on Amazon Prime!

Brian Bannatyne-Scott, Edinburgh

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