Letters to the press, 25/03/22: "When it comes to conceiving, ordering, commissioning and executing major projects, the SNP Government is all at sea. Unlike the ferries."

The Auditor-General, Stephen Boyle, has uncovered a saga of mismanagement, lack of due diligence and a cavalier attitude to public finances on the part of the Scottish Government that ought to outrage Scots. The interminable ferries saga is now turning from tragedy into farce. The Finance Secretary, Kate Forbes, does not know who took the momentous decisions about it because she “wasn’t in post at the time”. The only plausible reason for that is that so much of the audit trail cannot be found – yet another case of inadequate record-keeping by the SNP regime. The clear impression is that when it comes to conceiving, ordering, commissioning and executing major projects, the SNP Government is all at sea. Unlike the ferries. Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh.

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I travelled to a funeral from my home in East Renfrewshire, through Glasgow to Airdrie and Coatbridge, in North Lanarkshire. My journey ended in Hamilton, in South Lanarkshire. The streets of virtually every local authority area through which I travelled were mostly free of rubbish and litter with the exception of Glasgow. Why is this? Do the people of the other areas not throw litter or drop rubbish? Do the other areas have better funding? Is it the case that Glasgow City Council prioritises more politically correct initiatives rather than allocating sufficient resources to street cleaning and bin emptying? Is it the case that the ratio of managers and administrators to workers on the ground has made the task impossible with the level of funding needed? Whatever the reason, the job of keeping our wonderful city clean needs to be prioritised. Doreen Stephens, Renfrewshire.

The SNP lauded its introduction of the 19p income tax rate to help those on low earnings. This rate, however, has a cap of only applying up to £14,667. Rishi Sunak has now introduced the same rate but it will apply up to £50,270. Nationalists have been keen since the Chancellor’s announcement to say they also have a 19p starter rate but have kept quiet on the top limit for it. Those in Scotland currently earning between £43,663 and £50,000 pay 41 per cent – a substantial difference. When the new rate is implemented in 2024, what will SNP ministers do? Stick to their guns of taxing those in this bracket and risk employees seeking work in England or give Scottish teachers, junior doctors, office staff and others in this bracket the same level of taxation? Scotland already struggles to get staff for our education, NHS and business sectors without discouraging talented people and businesses looking to invest here. Time will no doubt tell. Jane Lax, Aberlour, Banffshire.

I have both read and listened to the comments of SNP MP Alison Thewliss, giving the usual carping criticism of insufficient money being spent to support lifestyle during a period of rising inflation. She totally fails to take account of the fact that our current generation has led a relatively cosy life in an era of cheap energy, cheap food and ever-increasing funding of public services. We can’t go on in such a way, forever borrowing more and more money to cushion the blow inflicted by world events on our social structure. It is time to bite the bullet and recall how things were 50+ years ago when funding safeguards were nowhere near the current spending levels. We survived that and can survive again if we cut our cloth accordingly. Our current generation needs to grow up and get on with it instead of constantly moaning about what might have been. In particular, it is rather disingenuous for any SNP MP to be critical of fiscal management given the track record of the enormous wastage of money on the likes of Prestwick Airport, CalMac, legal costs for the Salmond disaster and the ever-growing numbers of fat-cat “advisers” that Holyrood seems to need to compensate for the grievous lack of experience and competence of SNP ministers. Derek Farmer, Anstruther.

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