Letters I: North Sea oil tax figure does not add up

Given that Unionist politicians don’t have a good record on telling the truth about the value of oil, we should be very suspicious of their current valuations of the commodity.

For instance, it seems to be no secret that oil from the Scottish sector of the North Sea will provide 62 per cent of the UK’s total requirements, and 50 per cent of our gas, which sounds like a lot.

Also, we hear that Norway will collect £17 billion in tax from their sector of the North Sea, which appears to be about the same size as ours.

Why the enormous difference?

Is it just that we are much more charitable to oil company shareholders, as the price of oil rises and falls, than the Norwegians? Maybe someone can enlighten us.

Harry Corrigan
Ayr

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Tories may be guilty of massive misjudgment

DID the Tories misread the mood of the nation when they called the General Election? The huge lead they had in the polls clearly gave them the confidence to seek an increased mandate. For them, driving a hard Brexit through an elected dictatorship was their aim.

Their confidence is confirmed in their arrogant manifesto that warns of financial pain for sections of society normally held to be Tory voters, with policies such as removing the triple lock on pensions, while informing us of more benefits for their pals in the city through corporation tax cuts etc. And ever more austerity for us.

All they had to do was convince us that Theresa May is strong and stable and that Jeremy Corbyn is a political bogeyman. A done deal.

Except Labour has neutralised Brexit, which turns the electorate back to more traditional lines of how this election will affect them and their pockets. With May avoiding real debate she has handed the initiative to Corbyn, who is relishing the exposure and appearing more credible.

After seven years of harsh Tory austerity and the Tory manifesto promising more of the same, perhaps the Tories are now on precarious ground of their own making?

The challenge for Scots is realising that what matters is not who is holding the reins in Westminster after the election, rather that Westminster holds the reins on us, and that the political megalith is not about to reform or change anytime soon. Even Corbyn will deny us our right to self-determination, principally for his own party interest at our expense. So the new dynamic Sturgeon is hinting at may just become reality. Unless that dynamic includes Scotland remaining in the single market then nothing changes. Scotland will do better deciding for itself and by voting for candidates who put Scotland first in this election.

Jim Taylor
Edinburgh

ONE could be forgiven for thinking Theresa May’s kamikaze manifesto was an attempt to throw the election in favour of the Labour Party. With the unseemly public squabbling going on among her advisers, it appears she deliberately kept her best self-destruct torpedo – called the dementia tax – under wraps until it exploded in her manifesto.

In Downing Street’s Alice In Wonderland politics, nothing is as it seems. Of course, May’s extraordinary manifesto, attacking homeowners and pensioners, her core voters, could just be marked down as a potent cocktail of crass stupidity, tunnel vision and supreme arrogance, but I’m willing to give the Prime Minister the benefit of the doubt.

The cunning pass-the-parcel plan could be to lose the election to Jeremy Corbyn just as the Brexit music stops. The Tories could safely sit back and watch him squirm as the European Commission holds out for €100 billion up front. They could carp from the opposition benches as negotiations become fraught, while demanding all manner of impossible concessions. Then by the time it all goes pear shaped, bingo, it’s time for another General Election. Meanwhile in Scotland the Unionist parties are not interested in Brexit or the dementia tax or the attacks on poor and disabled people. They would rather bang on about no referendum, ad nauseum, ad infinitum.

However, Scotland does not need to make sense of all these shenanigans. The choice could not be clearer. Are we going to remain shackled to a bitter right-wing government in Westminster that will exact revenge on Scotland at a time of its choosing – or do we give them a clear message? Scotland does not want to be ruled by a Tory government.

Mike Herd
Highland

I HAVE mostly supported Jeremy Corbyn in his efforts to develop a fairer and safer Britain. I believed he would attempt to create a progressive alliance in a post-election United Kingdom. I felt sure his intelligence would lead him to the need for an informal arrangement with the SNP.

His comments made in Glasgow at the weekend have shifted my views into the negative sphere. To suggest that the SNP could have done more with the welfare powers “granted” by Westminster reveals either dishonesty or a misunderstanding of the precarious nature of the Barnett formula.

It also ignores the fact of the Scottish Government having to use precious resources to mitigate the effects of the so-called bedroom tax.

There are no guarantees that the existing powers held by Holyrood will continue if the Conservatives win the election. There are certainly plenty of threatening noises.

If Mrs May is prepared to fight the election on fox hunting, there is no doubt that she will be prepared to promote legislation removing Holyrood powers. It is also clear that Scottish fishing and farming rights are in her sights in the Brexit negotiations.

But to welfare powers – how could any pragmatic politician set up new systems of welfare rights when there is absolutely no certainty of having funding to carry them forward. The very nature of the Barnett formula means that every set of austerity cuts affects that funding.

Every time I hear the Scottish Labour Party and the Tories blaming austerity cuts in Scotland on the SNP, I have to reach for my blood pressure pills!

What puzzles me about Labour figures like Jeremy Corbyn is their capacity to support independence struggles other than Scottish. Has he ever visited those empty glens supporting sheep and stags that once held vibrant communities?

Maggie Chetty
Glasgow