I WAS somewhat irritated by Michael Fry’s latest column (We need a capitalist plan for indy Scotland, April 10). He used the phrase “the UK milch cow will no longer be there…”
Many years ago, sometime between 1965 and 1968, I wrote a letter to The Scotsman starting “Dear Mr English taxpayer...” that went on to give my grovelling thanks for this generous person who contributed so much to my standard of living. The letter was published in the middle of the letters page; The Scotsman was a different paper then.
The reason for the letter was the constant cry that Scotland was subsidised and we did not pay our way, but needed handouts from England. Many Scots might actually think that way – Michael Fry perhaps? – but countries do not get subsidies, the people do, and as a hard-working taxpayer I objected to that. I was a accountant with a large road haulage company based in Peterhead and our vehicles carried beef, fish, canned goods, machine tools and pneumatic tools south all the time. The company was a subsidiary of Transport Development Group Ltd, London, and surplus cash went south every month. I knew no money ever came the other way!
Scotland has been treated as the “milch cow” by England, and if Mr Fry thinks otherwise I refer him to the untold billions of oil money squandered by the Treasury in the last 40 to 50 years and ongoing.
Jim Lynch
Edinburgh
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