Off the agenda?

It is reported that East Ayrshire Council is suffering the consequences of the roll-out of Universal Credits with current housing arears of £1.5m .

East Ayrshire is not alone, many other councils are suffering the same consequences – my own council, Falkirk, has reached £1 million in arrears. In October this year Highland Council demanded reimbursement from the Westminster Government for the costs they have incurred as a result of mitigating measures taken to offset the effects of the rollout of Universal Credits, £2.5m on extra housing costs, arrears and administration costs. Our cash-strapped councils are paying a hefty price and can ill afford to continue mitigating for the heartless policies of the Westminster Government when it comes to welfare.

National Government at Holyrood is also paying a hefty price with demand soaring for crisis grants from the Scottish Welfare Fund, a fund established to mitigate the effects of Westminster’s austerity cuts and welfare reforms.

To date this fund has assisted 306,305 individual households with awards totalling £173 million. The Scottish budget is imminent and the Scottish Government can ill afford to continue with those expensive mitigating measurers. So amidst all the seriousness of Brexit is the plight of many hardworking indi-

viduals and families who are being forced to depend on foodbanks and charities due to the roll-out of Universal Credits slipping further down the Westminster Governments agenda or even off the page altogether ! CATRIONA C CLARK

Hawthorn Drive Banknock, Falkirk

Many of us will remember Alex Salmond’s claim in 2014 that if the referendum went his way the transition to independence would take 18 months at a cost of £200 million. The Brexit negotiations which are leading us nowhere after two and a half years confirm that Mr Salmond’s claims were utter fantasy.

Nor is the impasse over leaving the EU the only such indication. After the usual footstamping agitation for more powers the SNP were given control over 11 benefits in 2017. Now we learn they have asked the UK Government to retain control of these powers until 2021! Social Security Scotland, the body to be responsible for dealing with these benefits, has still not recruited sufficient staff and its headquarters are not even opened.

Is this sheer incompetence or a ruse to allow the SNP to continue to blame the UK Government for issues related to benefits? Probably a bit of both. Either way it should serve as a wake-up call to anybody who imagines that the process of Scotland leaving the UK would be a bed of roses.

COLIN HAMILTON Braid Hills Avenue, Edinburgh