Assurance wanted on expenses

Dear Editor I have to confess that I arched my eyebrow as I read Stephen Kerr’s column (Observer, November 6).

Referring to the 2016 vote on UK membership of the EU, Mr Kerr argues that if we are to hold referenda, we must respect the results and, from this, he asks the Stirling electorate to vote ‘for a Scottish Conservative’ (i.e. himself ).

Among the many problems with this proposition is this: on the morning after the referendum, Brexit could have meant anything from joining the EFTA or EEA to the hard, WTO-terms exit clearly desired by a significant number of Tory MPs.

Yet, instead of a national discussion seeking a compromise over what Brexit actually might be, the Tory government chose to pursue a hard Brexit. It has become clear that Brexiteers like Mr Kerr have actually had no idea of what Brexit actually might entail.

There was certainly little attempt to engage with concerns in Scotland, which voted strongly to Remain.

Stirling needs an MP who can address the resulting friction, and ‘a Scottish Conservative’ is not the solution.

Regarding Brexit, Mr Kerr’s record speaks volumes. Having supported Leave in the 2016 referendum, he

Dear Editor

The SNP has parachuted (not my word, that of an SNP member) one of their MEPs, Alyn Smith, to be their candidate in Stirling at the forthcoming General Election. He has already stated that he will not be resigning his seat at Strasbourg and will therefore retain his income and expenses during the five-week campaign.

I understand that the average

Dear Editor

It is a bit rich for Stephen Kerr to blame the SNP for not supporting Brexit deals (Observer column, November 6). The deals from both Theresa May and Boris Johnson were bad deals which would have had an adverse effect on Scotland and there were plenty of MPs from

Member of the European Parliament costs us taxpayers more than £300,000 a year.

Therefore during the five-week campaign MEPs will draw more than £30,000 in salaries for the member and his staff together with other ‘expenses’.

Can we be assured that when the SNP candidate makes his return to the Electoral Commission after December 12, he fully declares all mess, now you must put up and shut up’. To do so is to endorse Brexit at any cost; to back a Prime Minister whose primary concern is for his own career; to accept a government propped up by supine Conservative party loyalists and by hardline Brexiteers. It is a vote to ensure that Scotland and Stirling’s voices are once again ignored.

For any concerned Stirling voter, regardless of usual party loyalties I would urge them to vote tactically and support the main challenger, Alyn Smith (SNP) as our MP – and I write as someone with affiliation to no political party (formerly LibDem) and, while I am a member of Stirling4Europe and the European Movement in Scotland, I write strictly in a personal capacity.

The purpose is not only to oust an unprincipled government pursuing a narrow agenda that can only do harm to Scotland and to Stirling. It is also to return to Westminster an MP who will ensure that Stirling’s – and Scotland’s – voice is heard as we negotiate the Brexit impasse. In one of his speeches to the European Parliament, Mr

Smith asked that a light be kept on in Europe, so that we in Scotland ‘can find our way home’.

Let’s make Stirling the place where that journey begins.

Mike Rapport King’s Park, Stirling