Police VAT bill raid was an act of spite

Sir, - The public may now distinguish that there are two sorts of politicians in Scotland today.

There are those with ambition about building a successful, inclusive, country who want to make life better for all its citizens and those who want to continually demean Scotland and frustrate progress.

While Police Scotland had a difficult birth, it had almost universal political support, with only the Liberal Democrats opposing it.

With the current state of the UK’s finances, a country of Scotland’s size could not afford eight police authorities each with a chief, deputies, HR and purchasing departments and each with its own contact centre.

Setting up a unified force has allowed resources to be pooled to deal with organised crime and drug dealing across old police borders.

That has achieved results. When there was a murder in Montrose in 2015, Police Scotland was able to bring in officers from all over Scotland to investigate a difficult case and quickly apprehend suspects. That would have not happened in the days of the Tayside force.

Ron Sturrock (January 28) raises the issue that Police Scotland’s VAT bill is the SNP’s fault, notwithstanding the fact that the Metropolitan Police force does not pay VAT and neither does the Northern Ireland police authority.

Neither do new academy schools in England, taken out of local authority control and specifically exempted from VAT by a change in the law in 2011. They can reclaim VAT. It seems VAT law can be amended for the Tories’ pet schools project in England but not for policing in Scotland.

One is left with the conclusion that levying VAT on Police Scotland is an act of political spite by the Westminster Government.

That act of spite in denying funds to fight crime in Scotland is supported by unionist politicians such as Mr Sturrock. Cllr Bill Duff. 5 MacDiarmid Drive, Hillside, Montrose.

Picture: Dougie Nicolson. Police Scotland officers working on a murder case in Montrose.