Swinney challenge

As John Swinney seems ready to raid Nicola Sturgeon's cache of perceived grievances against Westminster to account for a possible overspend in the Scottish budget, it's surely relevant to consider the Auditor General’s warning that Holyrood has been slow to undertake a much-needed review and reform of public services in Scotland, allowing financial pressures to build up.

Of course, there can never be enough money coming from the UK Government to cover all of Scotland’s needs but one would expect all the monies received to be used wisely and that is certainly not the case with the SNP government. Mr Swinney should put his own house in order.

BOB MACDOUGALL Oxhill, Kippen, Stirlingshire