Costly Cabinet

Brian Wilson says it is mad to give up Scotland’s seat in Cabinet (Perspective, 4 August), but there is no evidence that Secretary of State David Mundell has altered UK government policy and his failure to bring forward EU Withdrawal Bill amendments to protect devolved powers shows his office carries little weight.

More importantly, after 20 years of devolution there is no justification for the Scotland Office to continue.

At an annual cost of £9 million, due to its staff numbers increasing from five in 2010 to 71 and spending £686,166 last year on “media relationships”, including targeting specific voters in Scotland through Facebook with UK government propaganda, as claimed by investigative journalists at The Ferret, it confirms the view that it is nothing more than a UK government propaganda unit promoting the cringeworthy “Britain is Great” label at the Edinburgh Festival or the Royal Highland Show. The

Commons committee cited by Brian Wilson also criticised Whitehall, stating that the civil service of the UK government “still operates extensively on the basis of a structure and culture which take little account of the realities of devolution in the UK” and the same goes for Uk-wide TV news and current affairs programmes.

MARY THOMAS Watson Crescent, Edinburgh