From jabs to jobs ... UK help should be recognised by all of our parties

THE UK Treasury, through the Barnett formula, has provided the Scottish Government over the last 12 months with £9.7billion to support 900,000 Scottish jobs during furlough, as well as businesses and public services affected by the pandemic.

This figure includes £3.4billion in loans to Scottish companies to protect jobs and livelihoods.

All political parties in Scotland in the run-up to May should acknowledge in their leaflets this considerable financial aid. There should be no grudging, muttered ‘Aye, thanks’.

Scottish voters have been beneficiaries of the dynamic UK Government Vaccines Taskforce’s research and speedy vaccinations rollout, and this too should be acknowledged in all political parties’ leaflets.

How many Covid-19 vaccinations would Scots have received by this point had a separate Scotland been hamstrung by the bureaucratic machinations of the European Commission?

Scotland may have the same population as a single English county (Yorkshire), but it is bigger than Alba-land. A sense of realism would not go amiss.

DUNCAN MCARA, Bishopbriggs, Dunbartonshire.