Rose-tinted view of state of Scotland
Dear Editor, I share Councillor Ellen Forson’s criticism of both the Scottish Tories and Boris Johnson (Observer Letters, August 26).
However, asserting that the answer is to support the SNP flies in the face of realities.
She claims credit for the Stirling and Clacks City Deal which, if memory serves, was pioneered by a previous Labour-led Stirling Council.
If the SNP is the answer to our current problems perhaps Councillor Forson would address a few basic issues:
When will the SNP government accept its full responsibilities on health and education instead of continually blaming the UK Government, Labour or Tory?
When will the SNP government respond to the criticism of Police Scotland, a reorganisation which they introduced?
When will the SNP government explain how exactly they would have paid for the costs of furlough due to Covid-19 without the support of the UK Treasury?
When will the SNP government finally accept its obligations to deliver services for which it already has powers for - on welfare, care, transport as well as education and health?
In other words, when will the SNP stop blaming everyone else for what goes wrong but claim credit for any modest achievement that may be attained?
I am 100 per cent European and deplore the Tory created shambles of Brexit but like many others who are at home in Scotland I do not accept that an even narrower definition of nationalism than that espoused by the Tory Party is the answer.
David Warburton Dunblane
Dear Editor In your columns Councillor Ellen Forson has made a very spirited case to boost her credentials in her bid to represent Stirling for the SNP.
However, in some respects I feel that she is looking at what is happening in Scotland through rosetinted glasses. While her praise for Nicola Sturgeon’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis has been echoed by many people, it seems that both the UK and Scottish governments were slow off the mark in initiating measures to combat the deadly virus, ultimately perhaps resulting in unnecessary deaths in hospitals and care homes.
Failing to postpone the Nike Conference in Edinburgh in February is perhaps an example although there are mixed messages about whether the outbreak there actually contributed to the wider spread of the virus.
Likewise, the Chancellor has received plaudits for introducing the furlough scheme and helping businesses through the pandemic with the SNP now demanding more of the same from Westminster. However, would an independent Scotland have had sufficient money behind it and the economic acumen to introduce similar initiatives to cope with such a global emergency?
With Scotland having a reported budget deficit of almost nine per cent of GDP, serious questions must be asked about how the deficit can be reduced in the longer term to even allow an independent Scotland to qualify for membership of the EU. Massive borrowing or swingeing tax rises seem to be the only options as economic growth can’t be guaranteed given the tsunami of job losses likely to arise from the Covid-19 fall-out.
At this time, I am unpersuaded that our political leaders in Scotland have the vision and economic competence to enable more prosperity to be achieved through independence, and Councillor Forson has her work cut out to convince me otherwise.
Bob Macdougall Oxhill
Kippen