Scotland Matters Letters

SCOTTISH health boards have been informed that all new building projects have been put on hold. Long-promised projects like the eye hospital in Edinburgh, the refurbishment of the mental health ward at Dr Gray’s in Elgin and replacement hospitals in Fort William and Airdrie have all been shelved: all badly needed facilities that the SNP has been telling us for years that we would be getting. While the capital funding may have had a 4°0 cut in real terms, capital spending according to the Scottish Parliament summary shows that it will fall by 24% as some capital money is being transferred to the revenue budget to help cover pay deals. The SNP Government agreed a 12.4% pay increase for junior doctors in 2023-24. What it didn’t do however was work out how it was going to fund it. The SNP was so proud to tell us that Scotland is the only country in the UK to avoid NHS strikes. At what cost I ask? Scottish patients are being let down yet again. Those in the Lothians will have to continue travelling to the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Glasgow for eye treatment, other towns will continue to have old buildings in need of replacing. Scottish citizens are suffering due to the SNP seeking out headlines on pay increases but not knowing how they’re going to pay for them. Jane Lax, Aberlour.

THERE is no doubt now that COSLA are very angry and resentful of the poor funding they have received this year from the SNP administration, forcing many local authorities into drastic cutbacks in essential services including libraries and leisure facilities and with a record number of swimming pools now facing closure. The SNP have wasted so much money on failed projects and pointless legal battles that there is little money left from the generous Barnett formula funding. They have now shortchanged the local authorities so that they will face the venomous public reaction to the cuts. The SNP’s time is up as the people of Scotland have had quite enough of seeing taxpayers money being poured down the drain whilst Scotland faces savage cutbacks year after year. Dennis Grattan, Aberdeen.

MINISTERS seem intent on making Scotland a ‘car-free zone’. Parking charges appear to be the new battleground, with congestion charging not far behind. Scotland is being ill-served by politicians intent on virtue signal-ling over the livelihoods of ordinary Scots. Holyrood is not working. Gerald Edwards, Glasgow.

SANDY Slater (Letters, February 16) writes that “a better performance by the Scottish Government will help build a solid majority in favour of independence”. Where has he been the last 17 years? The SNP Government has been in power long enough to show us what it is capable of nothing but chaos and mismanagement. Whoever gets into power in 2026 will be busy sorting the mess left behind, which will include having hardly any industry to pay taxes and therefore fewer people working, as well as a crippling benefits bill. Elizabeth Hands, Annadale.

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