I HAVE never hurled the contumely “tartan Tories” but the SNP do seem intent on mimicking successive English governments in concentrating the country’s scarce resources in the south-east.
If any part of this nation is deserving of an investment boost of £1.1 billion then surely affluent Edinburgh would not be top of the list (Edinburgh City Deal is signed – and will create 21,000 jobs, July 21, The National).
There is little point in painting examples: any region of Scotland would benefit disproportionately from such a cash boost in houses, jobs and infrastructure – all of which Edinburgh possesses in abundance.
I am incandescent that my taxes are being diverted to those who are already well off.
It calls into debate the sort of Scotland envisaged by the SNP. If we are to fight for our independence merely to mirror the inequalities of GB then why bother?
Ian Richmond
Dumfries and Galloway
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Brexit clique will wrench UK from EU at any cost
LIAM Fox may have unwittingly made the most important Brexit statement to date when he said: “The only reason that we wouldn’t come to a free and open agreement is because politics gets in the way of economics.”
The reason I suspect it was unwitting is that the aforementioned Mr Fox is not renowned for such brilliant moments of insight. However, for it to have been completely accurate, he should have said: “Because the politics of the Conservative Party gets in the way of economics.” Now there’s the rub.
It has been evident from the outset that these divisive and ruinous charlatans have had only one agenda: to wrench the UK out of the EU whatever the cost merely to satisfy their Europhobic paranoid delusions, and to settle decades-old scores within that moribund party.
At no time, from the inception of the Brexit fiasco with David Cameron presuming that he could sweep away the Eurosceptics with the referendum, right up to the here and now, with Theresa May completely lost at sea in command of a rudderless ship of fools, did they ever have a cohesive plan as to what the horrendous implications of a Leave vote would entail.
Day after day, more and more problems come to light, none of which anyone had even considered but now that we are faced with them, not one of the Brexiteers has an inkling as to what action to take.
This week’s Brexit negotiations, if one can call them that, are a case in point. Michel Barnier is still waiting for a concrete idea of what these idiots really hope to achieve. He has repeatedly asked “Diamond” David Davis to give a coherent map of how they see this negotiation play out.
Every time they ask, the airwaves and the right-wing press swamp us with soundbites, which are actually causing more harm by losing us any goodwill. Well let me tell Mr Barnier this: They do not have a plan, they didn’t expect to win the referendum and that is why the UK negotiators turn up at the meetings without reference notes and propositions. Over a year after winning the damn referendum they should be transporting their notes in by the truck load.
May and the rest are about to lead this country into the economic and political wilderness and instead of them being even a tad concerned, we are forced to witness the pathetic sight of May posturing as the strong and stable leader, Davis trying to continue to hoodwink the EU and his own citizens and Boris Johnson and Liam Fox spouting drivel as the clock ticks to zero hour.
At what point do we have to reach before someone says: “Enough of this madness!” and stops this headlong rush over the cliff edge?
Ade Hegney
Helensburgh
FOLLOWING on from Alex Orr’s comments in today’s National, a few things need to be said loud and clear to everyone (Can Britain be brave enough to change its mind? The National, July 21).
We are in this disastrously bad place solely because of the actions of the Tory Government led by David Cameron and supported by the entire Conservative Party.
This whole thing was created by his wish to outflank the right-wing of his party and get the better of Ukip and all it stood for. He does not seem to have for one minute thought of the implications of this, or the damage to the country which this would entail. This was, after all, liable to trigger serious changes to our country’s constitution. You may say that we did not have one, but we actually did. Ever since we became part of the EU a European constitution has been quietly settling into place, and it is from this that we are now trying to extricate ourselves.
For a start any constitutional vote should have a minimum pass requirement, but more importantly once a decision was taken to hold such a vote a considerable amount of time should have been spent on thrashing out the pros and cons of the situation. A clearly defined set of facts should have been listed for the vote showing exactly what the consequences would be in the event of a Leave vote being successful. Instead what we got was any and everyone with a view to shout, no matter how wrong it was. Cameron has gone, but sadly the motley crew left in government has not – they are the same people who light heartedly brought all this upon us. It is little wonder that they have no real idea as to how these negotiations now upon us should be handled.
George M Mitchell
Sheriffmuir, Dunblane
WITH public sector monthly borrowing up by £2 billion in June as compared with the same month last year, the Office for Budget Responsibility has at last pointed out the dangers to the British economy of rising inflation and interest rates.
It appears that interest on public sector debt, now £1.75 thousand billion, rose by a third in June, a serious matter they say, as “our debt is now higher than in 2008”. I had to blink at that point. After nine years of Tory government and austerity our debt is higher than before the 2008 crash. Doesn’t this suggest the UK Government is doing something wrong?
Moreover, piling the uncertainty of Brexit on top of economic mismanagement is like a petulant child kicking over the table when he is losing at Monopoly. For let us not forget the billions of printed monopoly money still swilling around in the economy that will sooner or later have to be removed from the table. I know it is tempting for some people, the old and infirm, to cling to the sinking ship. But surely it is time to strike out for a safer shore.
Peter Craigie
Edinburgh
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