Greens’ power grab

SO the mask slips. Instead of fretting over clean air and macrobiotic yogurt and yurts for everyone, Patrick Harvie has set the price of his wee band of mercenary Greens in Holyrood at an inflation-level pay rise for the public sector (Mail).

Of course it matters not a jot to him that the public sector is a byword for inefficiency and that even with another income tax rise, Derek Mackay – being played like a puppet here – won’t raise enough to cover the cost of this salary increase.

With all the usual wailing from councils already in place – ‘We’re running out of money!’ – we can expect less from them, not more, even if they get more cash for salaries.

Most of our council tax already goes to service local authority pay and gold-plated pensions. Mr Mackay might sneak his Budget past Holyrood but he needn’t think the voting public are blind to what’s going on.

Jim Andrews, Glasgow MAYBE I’ve missed something but I thought I lived in a democracy where politicians elected by public vote provided the stewardship of our country. In Scotland it seems, a small group of politicians who campaigned on an environmental ticket and attracted only a few thousand votes beyond family and friends has the last word on raising the nation’s income tax levels.

Still, on the positive side, only by increasing taxation can we hope to pay for the replacement of light fittings so essential to the Scottish parliamentary process. So that’s all right, then. PhiliP milne, Banchory,

Aberdeenshire