Sir, – It has been heavily trailed that smooth operator Rishi Sunak is to provide a direct transition fund to ‘bail out’ the oil and gas sector in his Budget today.
Considering the wealth this sector has delivered for 40-odd years to the UK Government, it is about time they put their hands in their deep pockets to support the north east.
However, I have a feeling it will all be wrapped up in Union Jacks, just like the UK Government are spinning around the vaccine.
As an independent country, Scotland would have had an enormous Sovereign Wealth Fund just like Norway.
The McCrone Report told us that, had we seen the report when written in the 1970s rather than secretly filed away as toxic to the union, we would have made a better fist of it.
It is strange the current spat in Holyrood has a committee so enraged and engaged when secret reports squirrelled away by Westminster governments rarely causes them to bat an eyelid.
So folks, be careful when Rishi Sunak comes bearing gifts in the Budget. There will be strings.
Alistair Ballantyne.
Birkhill, Angus.
It would be funny if it wasn’t so serious
Sir, – Otto Inglis seems to be really concerned about the prospects for Scotland if we have independence (Letters, Courier, March 1).
The central concern is that the SNP cannot distinguish between the party and the good of the country and how they will behave if they win a second independence referendum
It is surprising, then, that your correspondent seems at ease living in a union, ruled by a party which most definitely runs the UK to suit its own interest and that of its cronies.
The morality – or lack of – of the present Westminster government is all too clear.
It would be funny if it were not so hypocritical.
But it is not funny at all.
Jane Phillips.
Yewbank Avenue,
Broughty Ferry.
People of Scotland deserve better
Sir, – I cannot but agree with Douglas Cowe (SNP has trashed every aspect of Scottish life, Courier, March 1).
The architects of devolution never imagined that granting devolved powers to a Scottish parliamentary process would result in the shambles we have seen for so many years.
The main problem stems from the cult of personality developed by Nicola Sturgeon, to push her independence agenda at the expense of everything else.
She profiles herself as the mother of our nation, and anyone daring to question her authority gets a verbal slap on the head.
Evidence abounds in her ripostes at FMQs to questions from opposition parties.
There is also very clear evidence of the lack of transparency in matters of government, not only in the withholding of evidence from the Holyrood Committee of Inquiry for more than two years, but also from a total absence of publications dealing with the waste of public money in failed ventures such as Prestwick Airport, BiFab, Calmac Ferries etc.
Added to that is a very carefully constructed campaign to absolutely not inform voters about the huge complexities associated with independence, and the economic consequences.
‘We deserve better’ should be the slogan for the upcoming election.
Derek Farmer.
Knightsward Farm,
Anstruther.
Life Of Brian back on the viewing menu
Sir, – Justice Minister Humza Yousaf’s well-intentioned but controversial Hate Crime Bill has taken on many compromises.
“Intent” is now required in accusations of “stirring up hatred”.
Criminal threshold will require the validation of a “reasonable person,” and now after pressure from secular campaign groups and others, religion and belief are no longer to be cushioned from “expressions of antipathy, dislike, ridicule or insult”.
While this wording is less robust than in England and Wales, we applaud the government and rejoice that Life Of Brian is back on the viewing menu.
Neil Barber.
Edinburgh Secular Society.
