Welfare reforms are setting people up to fail

Sir, – A study published by Sheffield Hallam University on the impact of welfare reform shows that, on average, the loss to the Fife local economy is £660 per (all) working age adults.

Meanwhile in the most disadvantaged community – Buckhaven, Methil and the Wemyss Villages – the loss is estimated to be £995.

With already low incomes in the area, the local multiplier effect on the local economy is devastating, affecting businesses and jobs far beyond those families on welfare.

The iniquity of discriminatory austerity is based on the lie that a national economy is the same as the individual household, as the 1930s already demonstrated.

If you “tighten your belt” and “make savings” then you can regain a stable footing is simply not true.

This is compounded by the UK Government’s vicious scape-goating of the poorest, while allowing tax reductions and privileges to the more affluent, thereby exacerbating inequality.

Even the more progressive Scottish Government seems either unable or loath to break the downward spiral of the coalfields areas of Mid-Fife by channelling necessary investment here.

There is a huge opportunity for significant economic investment projects such as reopening the Leven rail link and various renewables projects.

Properly catered for, there is no doubt these once very prosperous ex-mining areas can once again become a net contributor to the national economy.

James Robertson. Casan, Leven.

Empty shops are becoming a common sight on Fife high streets.