Letters II: Job losses? We were saving our industry while Fallon was hurting it

I hope St Andrews gives him the same polite but unequivocal response that the students of my day would undoubtedly have accorded such a dictatorial, imperialistic attitude.

Yes, there have been and are ongoing serious job losses which are hindering our economy, but Michael Fallon himself is directly responsible for many of these.

After an earlier round of military closures, during which Scotland suffered 27 per cent of the total UK cuts to England’s 11 per cent, he has embarked on another, even more destructive programme of cuts.

Each and every one of these cuts has seen our economy and employment levels damaged, as military spend in each area disappears, local support jobs and their spend vanish, local tax levels drop and our taxes are in many instances helping to make redundancy payments instead – all as a result of Michael Fallon’s decisions.

What part of Nicola Sturgeon’s “day job” could have affected this, when our “strong voice at Westminster” is so completely ignored?

Next came the Jobcentre closure programme. More job losses, more redundancy payments, more loss of tax, more poverty and more need of jobcentres to help those affected find new jobs or access benefits while they search.

Meanwhile the impact down the line of the closure of HMRC centres throughout Scotland will be exactly the same, although the full effect is not yet receiving much attention.

Again, what could Nicola have done about these attacks on Scottish jobs? With Westminster intransigence and almost total media support, it is a losing battle.

But is there method in the madness of these Westminster schemes?

One could add a number of other scenarios since September 19, 2014 which seem deliberately designed to undercut the Scottish economy, such as the removal of support for renewable energy research, which has seen some of the research projects close down, and the non-appearance of the phone masts in dead spots for which £15m was pledged in 2010.

Add the rejection of carbon capture which could have saved Longannet and its jobs – while work is ongoing into its uses near Oxford; the refusal of post-study work visas in Scotland, while they are available to England’s elite universities; and the frequent decisions to deport Commonwealth and other foreign citizens who have set up their homes and businesses here and are benefitting their local economy, as well as the Scottish and UK economy.

Every one of these Westminster decisions hits hard at the Scottish economy, and appears designed to impoverish it in support of the Unionist mantra of “too poor” to be independent, and to remove in advance as many as possible of the shared assets we ought to fall heir to with independence.

Meantime Nicola, in her “day job”, has seen the Ferguson shipyard taken over, thriving and growing; Scottish steelmaking rescued long before any plan was found for England and Wales; and the Lochaber bauxite and hydro-electricity sites saved and ready to build a bright future.

All our great Scottish Conservative leader can do is whine and squeal “SNP bad” at every opportunity – and post a leaflet through my door asking me to sign a petition to beg Nicola to stop talking about independence!

L McGregor, Falkirk

MUCH as I agree in general with the idea of all-women shortlists and positive help for women to access politics, I find it hard to agree with Nicola Sturgeon’s latest decision to mentor a young woman, as opposed to a young person of either gender (Nicola Sturgeon to inspire female leaders with mentoring role, The National, February 2).

It is not just women who face hurdles into politics – and I do applaud her efforts in respect of women – but working-class poorer young people face significant hurdles, mostly in the opaque networks which exist, not attending the “right” schools etc, not to mention the fact that they have to earn a living and cannot just hang around the edges of politics waiting for their chance.

But they would be a valuable addition to the political world, as they would bring significant understanding of the problems poorer people face in their everyday lives, by just knowing what it is like to live on the national average wage or lower, or be in a family and community which struggles, and in understanding at first hand some of the problems poor communities face. After all, was Nicola herself not mentored by an older male politician?

I am also not entirely convinced this does not fall foul of equality legislation.

In the same vein of untapped potential, will there ever be any positive move by government to outlaw age discrimination and tap into the abilities of older people in the workplace? You can do all sorts of voluntary work and drive yourself into the ground, but you are too risky to employ for a wage, as they don’t think they’ll get their money’s worth. True, you cannot be forced to retire due to being a certain age, but it is possible never to get the job in the first place. You hit 60 and you are written off as regards getting a new career. You may, if you are lucky, get fairly menial work, regardless of your education and experience, or that has been my experience. I am lucky in having a job, but it hugely under-employs me and it is depressing to think how many people out there this applies to. At a time when government ought to be biting our hands off to work as long as possible, older citizens are dumped on the scrapheap.

Julia Pannell, Friockheim, Tayside

IT’S a bit rich for the Unionist press to label the FM and her government “divisive” for contemplating a second referendum. To quote the heroic Gina Miller: “There is no doubt that Brexit is the most divisive issue of a generation”.

Ukip-fuelled Little Englander nationalism now contrasts sharply with internationalist Scotland’s more democratic outlook. The Treaty of Union was between two sovereign nations. Do we really need England’s permission to remain in the EU or hold our own referendum?

James Stevenson, Auchterarder

THE fact that only one Scottish MP voted for Brexit against the clear majority of the Scottish people shows that Scotland is a colony of Westminster whose views are treated with contempt.

What is also clear is that the Tories have singled Scotland out. There will be special deals for Gibraltar, Northern Ireland, the City and Nissan. But the Tories want to “punish” Scotland for not being as servile and showing enough deference to Anglo-Saxon imperialism.

It cannot be excluded that the UK strikes some new deal with the EU, but even May, unlike the pro-Brexit forces to which she is now beholden, calculates that this would involve a humiliating and costly retreat. Hence she must now cling ever more firmly to the possibility of an alliance with Trump in the hope that this will force concessions from the EU, while compensating for the loss of European trade.

Trump’s team will see the weak position of Theresa May and will squeeze every last concession out of her for US corporations. It is impossible to predict how deep the schism within Britain’s ruling class will become in the next period What is certain is that the UK is entering a period of intense political crisis. Bitter conflicts lie ahead over whether Trump will give Britain anything worth having, given his protectionist “America First” agenda, or whether the UK must seek a place in a European block against the US.

Alan Hinnrichs Dundee