As SF and DUP continue down the road to nowhere, Scotland shows the difference devolution can make

I REFER to Mark Edwards’s article (News, February 6), in which the annual cost of congestion to Northern Ireland’s economy is estimated to exceed £1bn.

On this point, the juxtaposition of how the DUP has chosen to wield its supposed influence at Westminster with that of the SNP warrants some scrutiny.

While the SNP has been in receipt of more seats at Westminster recently, it has never enjoyed leverage over the Government to the extent which we are led to believe the DUP does.

As someone who lived in Scotland for 11 years before returning to Northern Ireland, and who continues to visit regularly, I consider myself better placed than most to comment on the contrasting fortunes of the two countries.

Scotland has invested heavily in infrastructure projects over recent years, including a new Edinburgh-Glasgow train line, a road crossing the Firth of Forth, a bypass around the fringes of Aberdeen, and a tram system in Edinburgh.

Conversely, I am unable to recall in that time a single public infrastructure project that has had a similarly transformative impact on local citizens.

All this despite the DUP’s hold over Theresa May and the Treasury, coupled with Northern Ireland’s block grant being much higher than that of Scotland.

Scotland has shown that devolution can work if the parties in charge are committed to bettering the lives of all their constituents. It is damning that I cannot say the same about the DUP or Sinn Fein in relation to Stormont.

The electorate in Northern Ireland is free to believe that the continuation of our petty, sectarian bunfight is more important than investing in roads, public transport, jobs, health and education.

My own voting preference grows more likely to be with my feet, by resolving to make one of my next visits to Scotland much more permanent.

GARETH McLORN By email