Unequal society

I’m no fan of Richard Leonard, or his predecessor, Kezia Dugdale, who have both tried to argue that “the UK represents the best possible way to redistribute wealth across the country”. At the same time, their UK Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said correctly that the UK is more unequal than most OECD countries, which makes it rather hard to give credence to the Scottish Labour viewpoint.

However, Councillor Peter Smaill’s attempt to disparage Mr Leonard’s analysis of wealth distribution falls short (Letters, 2 January). The analysis he complains about was indeed published by the Scottish Government, but not “seemingly written by an intern”, as he says. It was in fact “the result of a three month PHD internship sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Scottish Government”, based on the Wealth and Assets Survey data published by the UK’S Office for National Statistics (ONS).

If the methodology is open to challenge, as Cllr Smaill suggests, he should complain to the ONS as they decided which assets should be included in the analysis. In any case, I suggest his proposed modifications would produce only a minor change to the imbalance between the top 1 per cent and the bottom 50 per cent.

There are many other sources Cllr Smaill could consult which broadly support the ONS conclusions on wealth inequality and income

inequality. If he disagrees, perhaps he could complete and publish his own analysis. GEORGE S GORDON

Belmont Road Juniper Green, Edinburgh