Last week, Finance Secretary Kate Forbes said Scotland’s public sector must become more efficient and “consider the scope for innovation that embraces entrepreneurship, improves value for money, offers opportunities for commercialisation, better manages assets, and brings benefit to the public”. At the start of the big SNP adventure Alex Salmond, faced with nine departments, 27 agencies, 32 councils and 152 quangos, said: “If you are going to have joined-up government you need less bits to join up”. I thought he was serious and gave the SNP one of my votes in 2011 in the hope that it would wake up and transform Scotland. Silly me and the other few hundred thousand who would never have believed the mess we’d get into, or the woke, fairness, social justice, inclusion, equality and net-zero prism that infests and neuters all Government reports and policies. I genuinely think Ms Forbes is doing the right thing and I think it is fair that the job of clearing up the mess and selling the benefits of it should be one for the SNP and Greens, by which time I hope the opposition can unite with the desire, ability and policies to complete the job and guide us out of this blackspot in our history. Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven.
The revelation that around one-third of Scots vehicles will shortly be banned from entering our own city centres is shocking. Given that this is an SNP/ Green initiative, can we now see no further use of official cars, at taxpayer’s expense, being used by the Scottish Government. In the words of Jenny Gilruth, SNP Transport Secretary: “Let them walk. G Edwards, Glasgow.
Sir John Kay – sometime economics adviser to Alex Salmond – tells us in a new book that a separate Scotland “would begin independent life carrying a pro-rata share of UK debt in the region of £180 billion”. Scotland would also need to borrow, he adds, to cover its budget deficit of between £10bn and £20bn, every year. This raises a few points. First, it scotches the nationalist activists’ claim about Scotland “not having a deficit”. Second, it doesn’t begin to grapple with the difficulties facing a new country with no financial track record trying to borrow on the markets when it would have no meaningful central bank and no lender of last resort And third, it doesn’t open the can of worms that reducing the deficit would mean – austerity maximus. But hark! A rosier future is about to be predicted when the SNP this week starts producing the papers laying out its case for leaving the UK. You can be sure that they will paint a very different picture – of resource wealth, a “well-educated population” (no sniggering at the back) and full control of the mythical “levers”. I trust that journalists will subject these papers to rigorous scrutiny and appraisal, and also invite eminent economists like Professor Kay to do so. They will need to, since we can’t rely on opposition politicians at Holyrood to have the opportunity to engage in serious questioning. FMQs isn’t intended for that. Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh.
Sir, – Aberdeen Independence Movement held a meeting in the city recently. One of the speakers, Stewart Hosie, is proposing the party establish a “code of conduct” in order for activists to be “respectful and tolerant” while campaigning if there is to be Indyref2. He “warned” supporters against using “intemperate language which would weaken the campaign”. He said there should be a tolerant approach to “discrimination and prejudice”. I suggest that it is this disrespect, intolerance, discrimination and prejudice by separatist supporters that has caused so much division in Scotland since the referendum in 2014 and made my country such an uncomfortable place in which to live. How sad and how telling that a political party has to encourage its members to sign a “pledge” to behave themselves. Douglas Cowe, Kingseat, Newmachar.