THE letter by Hugh McLean (Letters, May 31) is very welcome. I will not claim to have his knowledge but those who wish Scotland out of the EU should be careful what they wish for.
The English Government, and let not kid ourselves that’s what it is, have been used to getting their own way and they prefer the game of Solitaire to Happy Families. Now they are in the huff. They seem to think that India and Australia will be falling over themselves to grab England’s products despite being abandoned back in the 1960s.
One of the reasons I have backed the European Union is that it meant that we would not have to rely on backing from the US for every major decision that was made. If my memory serves me right, the English Government still have to get permission from the US to trigger that abomination that is based on the Clyde.
I was speaking to someone who firmly believes that we will not leave the EU. He reckons that the negotiations will be that long and fruitless that the people will demand another referendum takes place once we are told the terms and that the Tories, if they are still in power, will be thrown out. One can only hope he is right.
Watt Smillie
Whitburn
YOUR article on debt and the analysis by Citizens Advice Scotland shows the financial volatility of everyday living for so many in Scotland (Debt a fact of life for majority of people, The National, May 31).
To be left without funds “at any time”, far less “most of the time” or “always” is not “just about managing”, as the PM talks about, it’s a sign of things being difficult to manage for many on their current income. To be working and in poverty, to be in debt, to go to food banks, is a shocking indictment not of the individuals and their families, but of the current government and their inability to govern for all, not just the fortunate few.
In the week that Dominic Raab (Tory MP) asserted that people used food banks due to “cash flow problems’” (Victoria Derbyshire programme, Monday 29 – not fake news: he did, I was there, I heard him). A broader look at policy outcomes over the last seven years will confirm the failure of Tory governments, and in particular the impact on women and children, which in turn must carry through and affect the Scottish picture.
Independent sources, including the ONS, the Fawcett Society and House of Commons committee reports confirm that over the last seven years, there has been a reduction in the quality of life for a vast number of women accompanied by reversals in gender equality.
The lived experience of many women has been confirmed: that since 2010 there has been in the region of £26 billion worth of cuts in tax credits, pay and pensions removed from women’s incomes. Unpacking this, we learn it partly relates to women born after April 1, 1951 having to wait till they are 66 before receiving their state pension. Some government that openly steals six years worth of your entitlement! Never mind that the UK state pension is one of the lowest in Europe, and statutory maternity pay is amongst the worst in the EU. Whilst this might not be exclusively parked on the lawns of the current government, there is no evidence of change for the better. Indeed it’s getting worse.
The same sources paid regard to children and confirm that approximately four million children in the UK are now “in poverty” , and 67 per cent of these children live in working households. Women make up 80 per cent of those working in the low paid care and leisure sectors and one in eight of all (working) women are now on zero-hour contracts.
Single parents currently receive 60 per cent of child tax credits, the care element of working tax credit, and wait for it, nine out of 10 single parents are women. The value of these credits are up to £2700 per child per year. With regard to future detrimental policy changes, we know the despicable change that is the replacing of child tax credits by universal credit, and that this will be paid only for the first two children. Enter the “rape clause”, topping up the likes of the bedroom tax, a failed austerity programme, removing hot meals and replacing them with seven-pence breakfasts (albeit outwith Scotland) thus showing us just a part of the dismal record and bleak future that is Tory.
Future change is inevitable, but the shape and the outcome of that change is not inevitable. As individuals, we have power occasionally, and occasionally some powers come together at one point. For us, that point has to be our next vote. It’s in our power to ensure the strongest possible opposition to the Tory Party in Parliament, to ensure we vote for our future that is determined by us in Scotland, and not by a government in Westminster with a minority representation of MPs in Scotland. I hope we use that power wisely, to ensure change for the better and not the inevitable weakening of our values, our lives and our society that would come with another Tory Government.
Selma Rahman
Edinburgh
BOTH Kezia Dugdale and Willie Rennie during TV interviews this week have again been spreading their fears about another “divisive referendum” and expressing their horror at the thought of more families being divided and friends falling out over this “unwanted” plebiscite being inflicted on the poor Scottish electorate .
Once again we are being treated to the rewriting of history from a couple of Unionist politicians whose parties have been comprehensively rejected time and again in the last few years by the voters. Perhaps it is the thought of a another Unionist riot in George Square that is discomfiting Kezia and Willie? If that is the case then it is up to them to get the message over to their “supporters” that this is not acceptable behaviour, especially by the “winners” .
It is sad that some Scottish politicians for their own selfish ends try to portray the 2014 referendum as something that it clearly was not. By any measure one cares to name, the Scottish referendum in 2014 was a by-word for democratic and peaceful debate on a country’s future. Perhaps Mr Rennie and Ms Dugdale could provide some evidence to support their apocryphal stories of families divided or friends falling out or of neighbours ostracised because of this “bitter” debate?
No doubt some will cite the eejits who infest the twittersphere or those who pass their days making vile comments on the internet as those who poisoned the debate. Let’s be clear, these are easily avoided and anyone who cares to engage with them is probably as empathetic as Katie Hopkins.
When there is another referendum, I hope and expect the debate to be as democratic, as peaceful and as fair (the BBC and MSM aside) as anyone would wish it to be.
James Mills
Johnstone
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