On your bike

Jill Stephenson does not detail who gets the “goodies” in either Rishi Sunak’s cruel austerity mini-budget or in regard to the bicycle schemes of the Scottish Government (Letters, 26 March).

Mr Sunak’s budget favours the better off. Of every £3 of new help provided by the chancellor £2 will go to people in the top half of the income distribution. Households still face a £20 billion hit to their disposable incomes from rising food, fuel and utilities prices over the next couple of years. Living standards will still be cut by more than 2 per cent. Those on state benefits, the most vulnerable, will be badly hit on top of cuts, due to the National Insurance contributions rise with which they will not receive help.

On the issue of bicycles, the Scottish Government has rightly taken a very different approach, responding to the fact that households with an income of £15,000 or less often do not have access to bikes, by funding some 500 loans. These, with no upfront payments, are being offered by two credit unions and the Cycling UK charity to help people buy a bike outright The scheme is open to any adult eligible to join the Capital or Scotwest credit unions. This includes people who live or work in the 21 local authorities covered by the two credit unions, people who work for one of 186 partner employers of the credit unions, Young Scot Card holders aged 18 or over and members of Community Trade Union.

Or a person can borrow up to £6,000 interest-free towards the cost of e-bikes or adapted cycles. This is funded from Transport Scotland (an agency of the Scottish Government).

POL YATES Edinburgh