Scotland Matters Letters

THE SNP should face questions over party finance, but, more importantly, they should also face questions over government finance. They have been spending taxpayers’ money like confetti. The UK government allocated £15.5bn to the Scottish Government to help recover from the coronovirus crisis. SNP ministers spent £11bn on 300 Covid-related projects in 2020 and 2021Audit Scotland have been concerned that not all of this expenditure can be identified. They said “it was hard to see how some financial decisions had been reached” and urged the SNP government to “improve the transparency of public finances”. Alas the SNP government seem more concerned with transgenderism than transparency. William Loneside, Lauder.

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So, the SNP auditors resigned six months ago. Nobody said anything. Nobody asked. There were no processes, it appears, to flag this up. Nobody took it upon themselves to do anything about it. Humza Yousaf says that as party leader he has taken action to address the situation, but the previous party leader did not seem to see the need to address it. This despite any number of queries about their financial position in recent years Good practice would also be for any auditor to take a client’s accounts through to year-end before handing over, if it wanted to do that. This would ensure that their client was not left in the lurch. Important for any business but you might think doubly so when their client is the party of government. Don’t get me wrong, I am not too concerned about the SNP’s finances or their current difficulties, but we have had queries about much larger sums of Covid money that have not been accounted for, and any number of expensive spending commitments made in recent years. Is it not time that the UK Parliament called in the auditors to look at the Scottish Government books and see if everything is as it should be there, instead of tip-toeing around these things? We need to unravel the whole picture on what is going on. The alarm bells are ringing. Victor Clements. Aberfeldy.

While I completely sympathise with the Federation of Independent Retailers’ demands for compensation from the Scottish Government for the expense and inconvenience of Deposit Return Scheme (Scotsman, 20 April), why should taxpayers like me pay for this ludicrous situation? We were told it would be a doddle because loads of other countries had done it, but yet again we have another exhibit for the SNP Green Museum of Screwed Up Policy and Delivery right up there with GRR, named person, the ferries, farm payments and the social security debacle. The poiticians and civil servants responsible should be sacked, simple as that. Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire.

HUMZA Yousaf delivered his vision for Scotland lacking in any fresh ideas that might inspire an insipid economy. What we got was the same as usual. Progressive taxation translating into higher taxes that would impact what is already a fragile economy and people’s pockets. Surely inappropriate tax rises at this time? Scotland is crying out for a fresh start and any political party that can offer a positive vision delivered through enterprising policy initiatives will be the beneficiary. Humza Yousaf singularly failed in his “offer” to the electorate. Richard Allison, Edinburgh.

The SNP finances continue to be in turmoil. The auditors resigned six months ago but the public were not told until a few days ago. Why? It might be time for Natalie McGarry, that well-known financial guru, to step in. Maybe as finance secretary since she has as much clue as Shona Robison. What a shambles. Ronald James, Kirriemuir.

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