Remove blinkers

When the £1 billion bung to the DUP was announced last week, and questions were asked about why similar sums were not coming to Scotland, the UK Government pointed to city deals for Aberdeen and Inverness, saying that extra investment had been provided to them to improve their local economies.

A similar deal for Edinburgh, the Scottish Borders and surrounding areas is planned, but it seems to be stuck in bureaucracy between the UK and SNP Scottish governments. It had been hoped that the deal would be signed by the end of June, but that has now passed. When Labour’s Ian Murray last week raised the subject in parliament, instead of being given information about when the deal would be announced, he was instead given a partisan lecture by the Tory Leader of the House of Commons about the state of the nation’s finances seven years ago.

This is not good enough. The Edinburgh deal is worth £2bn and has the potential to attract £5bn of private sector money. It is intended to deliver thousands of jobs, improved skills and productivity, and thousands of new houses, supporting business growth, digital connectivity and low carbon investment. This is exactly what Scotland needs. The UK government needs to remove its austerity blinkers and the SNP its independence focus and get on with the day job, putting their energies into getting this deal launched as soon as possible.

PHIL TATE Craiglockhart Road, Edinburgh