Jingoistic, polarising, nationalist claptrap

I WAS surprised and shocked to see that the editorial staff at the WMN allowed the article in the 9 December titled “Why Scotland should stay with us”.

Never have I read such misinformed, jingoistic, polarising and nationalist claptrap.

The tone of his article falls into the well worn and misguided trap of believing that Scotland could not survive without the generous help and guidance of the English, ever since the Act of Union in 1707.

By the way, this was not an amicable agreement, as he implies, but a case of England ‘buying’ Scotland when it was virtually bankrupt and I may suggest that the Scots have been paying for it ever since.

Some real facts, Mr Chalfont, for you to consider...

Leaving the Barnett Formula aside, as it is widely considered to be increasingly ineffective and inaccurate, Scottish exports have increased by 88% in the past decade (now threatened by a looming “No Deal” caused by a government that the Scots most emphatically did NOT vote for), contributing approx. £4.5 billion each year to the UK economy and Scotland is also one of the UK’s top five manufacturing export earners.

Tax revenue which goes straight to Whitehall amounts to £67 billion each year. The last recorded gap in the Barnett Formula in GDP terms between Scotland and England was just under £12 billion, which is hardly worth mentioning when you see the amount being spent in high speed rail networks – all in England of course! His implication that “they take our money” without giving anything back is both misleading and insulting.

As to the political landscape, of the 650 elected MPs in the House of Commons, 533 are English, 59 Scottish, 40 Welsh and 18 Northern Irish, so it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that any balanced vote will be overridden by English influence.

I would direct Mr Chalfont to a recent IMF report that stated the following: “Scotland can afford to be an independent country... the viability of an independent Scotland is not in any doubt. The figures show Scotland in a stronger fiscal position than the UK as a whole over the past five years”.

I really do hope that Scotland does achieve independence, if only to silence the mildly racist views which are all too prevalent at the moment and which Mr Calfont exhibits in his parting remarks when he says “I might actually vote in favour of Scottish Independence... just to get shot of them”.

“THEM”? Really?

Alan Ramsay Alphington, Exeter