Your views online
SNP budget demand
We revealed yesterday Ian Blackford has called on the Government to drop tax rates for tourism firms to stop them being decimated by the coronavirus outbreak.
“Multi millionaire merchant banker makes demands again. Has he ever thought of asking? Has he thought about suggesting that Westminster and the devolved administrations work together to develop plans to mitigate the issues he’s talking about? No. He makes a demand so that he can claim that Scotland is being ignored. Once again the SNP prove that their obsession with Scexit overrules everything else.”
Michael Kent, heraldscotland.com
“Brownie points for trying, but Blackford always seems to be some way behind what is already being said by Government ministers.”
J Williamson, heraldscotland.com
“Have you seen the state of our high streets, manufacturing and fishing etc... maybe should have done something about that years ago.”
Alex Macleod, Facebook
“It would have been helpful to hear from Blackford what the Scottish Government itself was proposing to do to assist tourism etc given that it is a devolved matter.”
Don Anderson, heraldscotland.com
“Perhaps there should be specific tax measures to help the tourism industry in, oh, Arran, say, given the difficulties caused by the lack of ferry capacity, due to a slight delay in the construction/arrival of a new ferry.
“Or the Scottish ‘government’ could itself take steps to help tourism in Orkney, by eventually getting round to introducing RET on the Orkney ferry services. I recall the then transport secretary promising it would be ‘rolled out’ in the first half of 2018.”
Ian Rubie, heraldscotland.com
“Why not cut VAT permanently? It’s pretty annoying that we get taxed on our incomes and taxed when we try to buy stuff with the portion of our incomes the Government doesn’t steal.”
Steve Mcmahon, Facebook
Covid-19 warning
Nicola Sturgeon has said the number of positive cases of Covid-19 could rise rapidly in the coming days, and she expects the NHS to come under “significant pressure”.
“She is just being honest and upfront about the reality!”
Sylvie Campbell, Facebook
“It’s OK, we’re about to get an extra £350m a week for the NHS. Any day now.”
Stephen Reid, Facebook
“Presumably we shall soon have a breakdown in relation to the hopefully rapid recovery rate of the 12 or so reported cases . I am wondering how many of the 12 have been hospitalised or are at home? It is so very hard to get sensible reports from the reports.”
Martin Morrow, heraldscotland.com
MSP history checks
The Scottish Liberal Democrats want to introduce legislation which ensures every elected member in Scotland undergoes background checks before spending unsupervised time with children and vulnerable adults.
“They should also be voting for the power of recall, where constituents can get rid of MSPS and councillors that cross the line.”
Gerry More, Facebook
“I presume this will be unanimously adopted, apart from by MSPS who refuse to resign. And it’s good to see the Liberal Democrats starting to make some return into their normal arena in politics – protection of the public – after their recent lapses.
Peter Piper, heraldscotland.com