Make sure equality is at heart of voting bill
Dear Editor Some 150 years ago, the Ballot Act of 1872 decreed that everyone had the right to vote in secret.
Despite this, four in five blind people still say they are unable to vote independently, in practice meaning they often have to share their voting choice with someone else.
The new Elections Bill at Westminster will only make this worse if passed.
Under current law, every polling station must have a device to make voting possible “without any assistance” for voters with sight loss.
The Elections Bill drops this guarantee for UK-wide elections, making voting independently a postcode lottery for blind and partiallysighted people.
The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) has been working with the Westminster Government on this to pilot new ways to make voting accessible for UK elections.
But removing these protections will undo a generation’s worth of progress.
We urgently call on Secretary of State Michael Gove MP and parliamentarians of all parties in Westminster to maintain existing requirements that enable blind and partiallysighted people to vote independently and in secret.
Please back RNIB’s petition, and join us in calling on the UK government for change to the Elections Bill, by visiting our website www.rnib.org.uk. James Adams, RNIB Scotland
Dentistry dismay
Dear Editor
Scottish Labour has warned of a “growing crisis” in dental care in Scotland as NHS dentists turn to lucrative private patients.
A dentist needs to complete a bachelor of dental surgery degree, which takes five years.
In Scotland all students get their university fees paid, costing tax-payers up to £9250 per year.
Why did the Scottish Government not tell students that to qualify for free education they would have to work in Scotland for five years?
No need for private health, no brain drain and no need to fill the universities’ £100 million-a-year funding gap. Clark Cross, by email
Call on candidates
Dear Editor
Living Streets (LS), the UK charity for everyday walking, is urging candidates in the upcoming elections this May to make walking and wheeling safer and easier, to help enable more people to choose cleaner and healthier ways to travel.
In ‘A Manifesto for Walking’, LS calls on candidates to pledge to:
• End pedestrian deaths and injuries on roads;
•Tackle air pollution;
• Make school streets safe;
• Cut the clutter and make walking easier for everyone.
Latest figures show that pedestrians in Scotland accounted for 37 per cent of fatalities and 34 per cent of serious injuries on built-up roads – while particulate air pollution alone causes almost 2100 early deaths in Scotland every year.
Roberta Fusco, LS