EU to blame, not Westminster

Sir, – Like many others I am disappointed that Dundee is to be denied even the opportunity to bid for European Capital of Culture, after the decision by the European Commission to refuse any UK application.

However, I am more than a little puzzled at the First Minister blaming this on the Tories. It was the European Commission who pulled the plug, not the UK Government.

Perhaps the FM wants to argue that these are the rules and therefore it was an inevitable consequence of Brexit.

But if that were the case, why did the Scottish Government as well as the UK, not inform Dundee City Council that it would be pointless wasting time and money on an application that was so obviously against the rules?

The fact is that on September 17 this year the EU Parliament changed the rules so that any UK city would be excluded. The European Commission then decided to pull the plug on the current British bids, despite these being on their own website.

In one sense the First Minister is right. This is because of Brexit. But not, on this occasion, because of the UK Government, rather the bureaucracy and pettiness of the European Commission who seem to have just thrown their toys out of the pram. If they expect the UK to continue to pay “our obligations” for many years, the least they could have done was permit cities like Dundee, Derry, Leeds and Nottingham to at least enter the competition – given that Istanbul, Stavanger and Bergen (all non-EU countries) have already won it.

The pro-EU MP for Leeds, Hilary Benn, spoke up for his own city when he condemned “the EU bureaucrats for 17 wasted months”. But for the First Minister and the Scottish Government it appears that criticism of the EU is heresy and so instead, rather than blame those who pulled the plug, they just shout “blame the Tories”.

We don’t need the EU to tell us that we are a European city, or that we are a city of culture and that we will continue to grow and develop, whatever the petty actions of political bureaucrats seeking to point score at ordinary people’s expense. It’s their loss – not ours. David Robertson. 14 Shamrock Street, Dundee.