Michael Matheson’s resignation letter is a paean of praise to himself, with claims about having introduced “world-leading” domestic abuse legislation and Scotwind leasing, although the latter brought in far less revenue than comparable schemes in the rest of the UK. What really sticks in my craw is the complete absence of any vestige of contrition, let alone apology. And to cap it all, he has the brass neck to sign off with the Salmondesque “Yours for Scotland”. How dare he? As far as I am concerned, he has disgraced Scotland and, apart from his obvious sins, has wasted people’s time, and therefore our money, on prevarications that have been investigated. It seems to me that Mr Matheson speaks only for himself, and without much self-awareness. Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh.
Michael Matheson has now belatedly resigned from his £118,511 job over the £11,000 iPad data roaming bill. However, he will still remain as an MSP on a salary of £67,662 and be entitled to £12,000 from the Scottish taxpayers for loss of office. In April 2022 the Conservatives at Holyrood presented a proposal to MSPs for a Removal from Office and Recall Bill. This would empower constituents by allowing them to recall their MSPs who have broken the law, undermined trust, or failed to contribute to parliamentary proceedings for an extended period. In England The Recall of MPs Act (2015) has been used numerous times, so why is it taking so long for MSPs to get this Scottish Recall Bill into law? Self-preservation? Clark Cross, Linlithgow.
HUMZA Yousaf’s failure to give Kate Forbes a cabinet post and all but exonerate Michael Matheson betrays a resolve to punish perceived enemies regardless and support allies come what may, an attitude which does not suggest a capacity for balanced judgment. Duncan Macintyre, Greenock.
Sir, – With regard to the latest nonsense by Ron Campbell and his ilk on the supposed options on currency (P&J Letters) it explains why Scotland has become a land of myth-making when discussing economic facts, as they are clearly not helpful to the nationalist cause and as such are regularly dismissed as untrue or simply ignored. For the sake of clarity let me again remind them what has been said by the renowned Scottish economists Andrew Wilson and Gavin McCrone along with the main UK political parties. The main point is the currency union we have enjoyed since the Union of Parliaments in 1707 would end. This means the Bank of England would no longer be the lender of the last resort, which in turn would spook our large financial institutions and muse a flight of capital out of Scotland However, as I have often stated (being rarely known for my “thundering silence” on the subject as claimed by Mr Campbell) this does not mean we would be unable to use sterling. But we should be aware adopting sterlingisation (the only option available if we want to trade in the UK pound) would have serious challenges. For example, we in Scotland would start life with classic twin deficits which means we would import more than we exported, and spend more money than we generate in tax – resulting in an unsustainably large current account and budget deficits. As McCrone said: “In the short term, even if taxes were raised and public expenditure cut, Scotland would have to borrow to finance both these deficits?’ He goes on to say that as a new borrower with no long record of credibility hike the UK, Scotland would “have to pay considerably more on its borrowing” and “interest rates would be in danger of constantly increasing in a vicious circle, resulting in eventual collapse of the economy” So Mr Campbell, of course we do not require the rest of the UK’s “permission” to use sterling, but the financial consequences of not being in a currency union with our largest trading partner would be severe and would hit the least well-off the hardest. Finally, the idea for us to break from our long-established currency union only to eventually swap it for a monetary policy set by the Frankfurt-based ECB that tries to fit a myriad of different economies over a wide area does not sound like indy to me – more akin to a Greece without the sunshine, in my view. Ian Lakin, Aberdeen.