Unionists happy complaining

Sir, – I heartily agree with the sentiments expressed by Rod Selbie (Letters, July 3) in the first sentence of his letter.

A prime example from one such serial contributor, Keith Howell, is printed on the same page.

In this submission he, as with all other unionists lately, criticises the Scottish Government’s handling of specific domestic responsibilities presently experiencing some challenges – a completely normal state of affairs for any government of 10 years’ standing.

However, as with all such submissions, the comments and criticisms raised never suggest any way to move forward, other than to refer to the SNP’s natural quest for independence as the reason for their perceived failures.

Why is it that the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrat upholders of the union simply ignore the economic facts since the crash of 2008 and the austerity agenda followed by Westminster? No Scottish government, of whatever colour, could have made better use of the finite budget and limited levers to better the economy than that achieved by the SNP.

The unionists persist in putting the quest for independence front and centre as the reason for present difficulties.

The Scottish public, however, whether independence minded or otherwise, have backed the SNP in the last three Scottish elections and all are aware of what they

stand for. They even won the recent general election in Scotland, despite the fact that even sending all 59 representatives to Westminster would not make any difference to how Scotland is treated.

Nicola Sturgeon highlighted austerity as a major concern in the 2015 general election, which helped elect 56 SNP MPs.

Now we belatedly have austerity as the main issue of the moment from all sides.

Westminster holds the purse strings: it also retains the important powers required in its determination to keep Scotland subservient.

Scotland is a country blessed with an abundance of natural resources and has always produced eminent individuals in all areas of commerce and industry.

Why, then, has it always lagged behind the prosperous south?

I would like all those so intent on defending the union to make an effort to do just that and actually explain the benefits Scotland has allegedly received from being part of the UK. Hugh Cameron. 33a Thomas Street, Carnoustie.