Time to grow
Robert Farquharson (Letters, 19 May) claims that placing Scotland in international economic league tables is “an invention”.
Not according to the SNP. They were happy to refer frequently to tables produced by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in the build-up to the referendum.
It was on the basis that Scotland ranked 14th – two places above the UK – in an OECD table that we were frequently asked if we wished to live in a more prosperous society. Now that Scotland ranks 18th – two places below the UK – independence supporters wish to pretend that such organisations are fictions or irrelevant.
Mr Farquharson is, of course, correct in stating that the growth commission will not place oil “at the centre of Scotland’s economy”. That was the point its leader, Andrew Wilson, made when he declared that previously that oil had been “baked into the numbers and was indeed a basis”. Any future projections would assume that revenue from oil would stay at zero.
The growth commission report will finally produced this week. We are told that it will look at ways of boosting the Scottish economy using devolved powers. Why has it taken the SNP 11 years to come up with that idea?
COLIN HAMILTON Braid Hills Avenue, Edinburgh Lewis Finnie (Scotsman, 21 May) is probably correct to say that there will be people looking out banners saying “It’s Scotland Oil” following the recent increase in the price of oil. It is also probable that, if the price drops again, dedicated unionists will be braying that the economy of an independent Scotland would not be viable. Neither of these groups of superficial gloaters will be interested in studying the facts.
(DR) PM DRYBURGH Falcon Avenue, Edinburgh
Now we have it straight from Spice, the Scottish Parliament Info Centre. A cut of 1.8 per cent in the settlement from the UK to the Scottish Government over the period 2013 to 2018 was transformed into a cut in the Scottish Government budget to local authorities of 7.1 per cent (your report, 21 May). Some arithmetic!
All the while the First Minister yelled “west minster austerity”. She knew perfectly well they were cooking the books to try to gain political advantage. She reckoned, no doubt, that a cross electorate might flock to the Nationalist cause to escape from wicked Westminster. How wrong she was!
Next time you find yourself clattering over our shocking roads or wondering why ancillary staff have disappeared from school classrooms, don’t blame the council. The buck stops elsewhere – in Holyrood. I hate to say it, but we have a government that lies to us. ALISON FULLARTON Lumsdaine, Eyemouth