SUNAK’S Spring Statement last week was an absolute disgrace.

Those on benefits had sand kicked in their face from him, yet again, and those on low incomes didn’t fare much better. He had the temerity to hand out even more dosh to those with so much they don’t know what the hell to do with it, with his 1% across the board cut in income tax for 2024.

Maybe Sunak should have taken heed of Bob and Sadie and their four grown-up bairns. Their son Tam was a real character, never the brightest of sparks and always led a bit of a chaotic lifestyle. Him and his wife were unemployed and struggled to put bread on the table for their family and couldn’t afford to put their heating on.

Bob and Sadie’s daughter Isabel had a heart of gold and worked tirelessly during the Covid pandemic as a nurse. She came home after every shift absolutely drained. Her husband had a part-time job on minimum wage and due to Isabel’s long hours, he was the main carer for their bairns.

Their other daughter Aileen was the brains of the family and was a solicitor. Her husband worked in the same practice. Finally the other son Hamish was one of life’s entrepreneurs and was never short of a bob or two. Basically he was minted!

Bob and Sadie visited their son Tam and his family on a particularly cold day. They couldn’t believe that even though they hadn’t taken their coats and scarves off they were still freezing. Also there were no biscuits at all to have with their cup of tea. Sadie just snapped and yelled, “That’s it, I’ve had enough of this!” She promptly got on to the phone to Hamish.

Her conversation went like this, “Now look son, I ken ye have been guid to Tam by bunging him a hunner quid now and again, but sorry, that’s no gonna cut the mustard any mare. It’s time to be there for your wee bruv, and only several grand a year is going to make a difference for him and his bairns. Ye can afford it anyway. By the way, I’m no asking ye, I’m telling ye!”

Whatever Hamish’s thoughts were he wasn’t arguing. He had a lifetime of knowing when his maw was in that mood he just did what he was telt! Sadie gave the same “kick up the bahookie” message to Aileen to ensure she financially helped out Isabel who was also finding it difficult to help ends meet and was at the end of her tether due to her nursing job at the time of covid.

OK, so Bob, Sadie and their family are fictitious characters in ma heid. More importantly, what’s the moral of the story? Well that’s obvious. We have been told since David Cameron was PM that those with the broadest shoulders should bear the greatest burden. Has it happened? Has it f***! Johnson, Sunak and their fanatical right-wing chums need to be on the dole, to be replaced by the Sadies of this world. How many countries throughout the world would be in a much better place with a “Sadie” in charge?
Ivor Telfer
Dalgety Bay, Fife

THERE clearly remain many concerns in respect of the potential turnout of the electorate for the Scottish Local Elections on May 5, from many and varied viewpoints, across Scotland and beyond.

ConDemSlab would presumably be happy with a low overall turnout, as their core vote would still be expected to turnout, and essentially vote against the SNP/Green Independence supporting National Government, and ConDemSlab would hope to dishonestly work the electoral system on “not the SNP” lines.

To state the obvious, a broadly political alignment between local and national governance is likely to produce better than the sum of the two parts but should not result with the lower funding of those localities not in alignment with national governance, which appears to be the Conservative way.

Some will argue that it’s just the ConDem austerity from the last decade (lost decade), that has emasculated local government, but that would be to ignore the Thatcher years of outsourcing in-house work, and the Poll/Council tax caps, followed by the postponed austerity of Slab FP1.

Then there is the “control” of uncapped local taxes, by constraining the Scottish block grant, which meant that equal pay for women was put to one side by Slab, and bundled together with PFI, as a “Glasgow Gift” for the SNP, and now the SNP/Green government, to fund locally/nationally, without UK national funding assistance.

Others will forget the negative opportunities of Brexit, that hobble Scotland, when raising local issues, or insist that not having a National Care Service offers a better way forward.

Now, the currently perceived average formal funding stream split of “local” service provision is 75% national to 25% local. This means that currently and in the past decades, a £3 reduction in UK block grant, requires a £3 reduction in national/local funding, and to maintain local service provision, requires an additional £3 to be added to the current individual £1 Council tax request (a 300% addition to locally sourced tax).

Adding to this funding stream burden is the component of the block grant subject to the Barnett formula, where if the UK Government moves simple Local annual capital expenditure on perceived English needs, of say £50, and turns it into 25 annual PFI payments of £3, then Scotland receives £3 for local services in Scotland annually, instead of £50 for the current year.

So, the UK government both directly and indirectly, largely controls Scottish local government expenditure to a large extent, and ConDemSlab are part of that problem that only Scotland becoming an independent EU nation-state, can in principle resolve.

The connection between locally identifying need and the multiple controlled funding streams is broken, potentially fatally. ConDemSlab decades of national austerity, often imposed locally, have broken it.

An independent Scotland (EU) would have national income, business, wealth, inheritance, corporation, and value-added taxes, and with a new currency the chance to determine its overall level of income to spend. Indeed, perhaps this is the end of local taxes.

What is required is the context for expending such income both nationally and locally, making appropriate use of the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), the Scottish Civil Service, COSLA, local authorities (Cllrs), council officers, and a more technically supported local governance.

These local elections matter, not least because they have national ramifications, and independence must be front and centre. Indeed, central to funding local services is the need for a new Scottish currency, which is positively international.
Stephen Tingle
Greater Glasgow

I REMEMBER only too well an argument I had last April with a “local” critic of the First Minister’s – and her party’s – performance which ended with his statement that “the SNP had to choose between being the party of government or the leaders of the independence movement”.

It would seem that this rather ridiculous view has permeated well beyond the occasional frustrated soul. Constructive criticism is to be welcomed within a healthy democracy, and the independence movement, but there has to be a defining logic behind it. There comes a point at which we must expect better than “the bumping of gums” from some of our commentators, particularly those paid for their insight or lack thereof.

It is hopefully easy to see that failure to govern competently at Holyrood undermines the very case for a level of independence where a wider and more complex set of judgements is required.

The government doesn't simply have to “act the part”; the decisions it takes must genuinely convince the world and the country that it is a government and not simply a dressed-up protest movement with a healthy budget.

Together with all Europe and beyond, Holyrood faced during the pandemic the potential of a catastrophic failure of our public health system and it is farcical to believe that arranging an independence referendum; despite its importance; should have been elevated to the top of our agenda during this period.

No sooner than we see the end of the pandemic in sight, we witness the attack on Ukraine. We must keep our fingers, and everything else, tightly crossed that there will be some resolution to the current conflict in Ukraine. The government, and the independence movement, however, have to consider that there is every chance that this conflict will have a significant impact well beyond Ukraine and Eastern Europe.

While Putin’s offensive has stalled at present, Russia is currently regrouping and replenishing. They have started to widen conscription to replace casualties and reinforce. Meanwhile, US troop numbers in Europe have doubled in the last few weeks, Eastern Europe is being reinforced and Ukraine continues to receive weapons from the majority of individual states in Nato. This conflict has a very long way to go.

The preparation for the administration for indyref2 can clearly continue in parallel with the affairs of the world but we have to recognise that things could get very nasty indeed on Europe’s boundaries.

We may be able to keep to schedule during the start of what has already become the new cold war. If, however, Putin decides to interdict the supply of weapons to Ukraine by attacking one of the Nato members in Eastern Europe the cold war could become very hot very rapidly.

If this does happen the timescale for indyref2 will once again change and rightly so. There may be wailing and gnashing of teeth among some of the most active supporters but the majority in the movement...and definitely the country...will recognise that the start of a shooting war with Team Putin will have to take precedence at government if not branch level.

Our choice will be whether to weather dissent within the movement or convince the marginal voters needed for victory that we are not yet capable of making rational decisions on the world stage.
Gus McSkimming
Ardrossan