Transport minister should be commended for his welcome candour

TRANSPORT Minister Humza Yousaf should be congratulated, not ridiculed, for his honesty when he says he is no expert on transport (“Rail minister ‘no expert’”, The Herald, October 27). With registers of interests already commonplace, maybe we should now have a register of competencies for our politicians. Might be an interesting, if possibly short, read. John Dunlop, 9 Birnam Crescent, Glasgow. THE revelation about Mr Yousaf not being an expert is nothing new. No ministers are or ever were. They are political beings, first and foremost, and although a fair number may have a smattering of knowledge on any given subject, very few are fully knowledgeable about their particular brief. I reiterate what I have stated before, that the percentage figures that rail, and for that matter the NHS, are plagued with to achieve, do nothing to allay the present-day problems and difficulties. It is too easy to apportion blame on the Scottish rail network to one aspect of its operations.The railway structure in ScotRail in its provision of services is in effect an alliance with Network Rail. Does the Scottish Government intend to take over everything lock, stock and barrel if performance worsens, as the minister puts it? John Macnab, 175 Grahamsdyke Street, Laurieston, Falkirk. MR Yousaf joins a long list of Scottish Government ministers who are likewise “no experts” in their own portfolios, ranging from health, education, finance, culture and tourism to social security, justice, economy and rural affairs, as evidenced by their own deplorable records. One would have thought that once ministers are given a portfolio in government, it is incumbent on them to learn as much as possible to represent their department effectively and successfully, not simply dismiss their own failure by making the embarrassing admission that they are clueless and thus following the SNP’s own well-trodden path by passing the buck.

Surprisingly, Mr Yousaf made the astonishingly insistent claim that “Scotlandwouldbeabletorunits own railways more effectively if further powers were devolved from Westminster”. How can he possibly make this typical protestation of the usual SNP grievance and perceived injury, if he, by his own admission, is “no expert”? Mark Ward, 60 Dalmellington Road, Crookston, Glasgow.