Never mind a People’s Vote, let’s push for a People’s Europe

If Brussels is not pushed to reform the whole EU may collapse, so it is incumbent now on all SNP, LibDem and pro-Remain Tory and Labour representatives to say how they would reform the EU and if they will make this a manifesto commitment.

The key to EU reform is the case for a People’s Europe, not the cul-de-sac of a People’s Vote. In practice this will mean an examination of how to wrestle supreme power away from the EU Commission to the EU Parliament, the abandonment of pro-austerity policies, the abandonment of the euro and, perhaps most importantly of all, the decentralisation of trade and economic policy into regional blocs which are at broadly the same economic level of development – for example, the former Benelux bloc, the Visegrad bloc, the Nordic Council, the British Isles, the Baltic Assembly, the Black Sea Economic Co-operation Bloc. This would make subsidiarity a reality, not just an EU slogan.

Finally, there is the challenge of how to reconcile the legitimate rights of both England and Scotland politically to pursue their own sovereign direction whilst maximising economic trade between the two jurisdictions. The EU establishment may yet rue their antipathy to independence in the 2014 referendum by realising that an independent Scotland in the EU whilst England is not, in the future, would be undesirable for both countries as it would lead to the kind of hard border which all Irish political opinion is desperate to avoid for the island of Ireland. In the short term the answer to this has to be a Norway Plus option for the UK as a whole.
Cllr Andy Doig (Independent)
Renfrewshire Council

FOR EU citizens and their families living in the UK to have to pay £65 to secure the rights they already have to stay here beggars belief.

Putting aside the fact that there are not currently 235,000 EU citizens in Scotland, but in fact 5.4 million EU citizens, it is clearly deeply insulting to ask those who make such a major contribution to our economy and society to pay £65 for the apparent ongoing privilege.

Adding insult to injury, it should be remembered that this is also a group of individuals who were not even given the opportunity to vote in the EU referendum and decide the future of the country in which they live.

What we continue to forget is the value of EU citizens to the UK economy. Those from the EU living in the UK contribute substantially more than they cost, adding to exchequer coffers and easing the tax burden on other taxpayers. Those from the EU contribute £2300 more each per year in net terms than the average UK adult to the exchequer. Over their lifetime they pay in £78,000 more than they take out in public services and benefits, while the UK citizen’s net average contribution is zero.

This is because most of those from the EU arrive fully educated, and many leave before the costs of retirement start to weigh on the public finances. Taxes will therefore inevitably have to rise if we bring in curbs on those from the EU. If we want to insult and chase away those who are not only our relatives, friends and colleagues, but who make such a major economic contribution, the UK Government is going exactly the right way about it.
Alex Orr
Edinburgh

AM I misreading the piece by Martin Hannan (ScottishPower completes sell-off, January 3) or have we just allowed control of one of our greatest assets, Cruachan pumped storage hydro scheme, to pass to an England-based company? The worrying bit is the quote “we are investing in Great Britain” – that usually means to the detriment of Scotland and to the benefit of England.

How’s THIS going to play out post-indy? Hopefully it’ll be re-nationalised but who knows? The only thing the Brexit fanatics have in common with the EU bankers is that they’re both against public ownership. I’m old enough to remember Mrs Thatcher telling us of the benefits and efficiency to be obtained from privatising our publicly owned utilities. That’s gone swimmingly then. Has everyone noticed the cheaper gas/leccy? The profitable, efficient railways etc etc? No? Neither have I.
Barry Stewart
Blantyre

YOUR article about Robert Louis Stevenson (RLS) and his time in Samoa brought back many fond memories of my own time there in the 1970s (The treasured island of Robert Louis Stevenson in Samoa, December 27). Reaching RLS’s grave atop Mount Vaea required a sure foot and a machete in those days!

I was employed as marine advisor to the Western Samoan Minister of Marine. At that time there were four of us Scots working on foreign aid programmes – our vet was from Laurencekirk and the electrician supervising the installation of a new electrical system was from Edinburgh, as was one of the teachers from the local school.

One day, while sitting in my office at Apia harbour, I noticed something going on at the outer desk. One of the girls came running in to tell me a man from Scotland wanted to see me. I shot out of my chair and into the outer office, to find an oldish man wearing a kilt. Turned out he was a retired plumber from Elgin, doing a round-the-world tour at his leisure.

Another time, I had stopped off for a cold beer at Aggie Grey’s (Aggie was still alive then, and loved to play the hostess) and there, sitting at a table, was a lad who had lived less than a hundred yards from me at home in Portsoy. He’d moved to New Zealand and worked for the NZ Forestry Commission, who were responsible for various tree plantations around the South Pacific. I met many other Scots, too, passing through on various cargo and cruise vessels.

All these Scots on a small Pacific island came as no great surprise to me, as I’d found similar gatherings in all sorts of places around the world. But those are stories for another time...
Robert Mair (Captain, retired)
Portsoy, Aberdeenshire

JOHN Edgar (Letters, January 3) is accurate in saying that Gavin Williamson is an absurd figure. A braggart and a liar he may be, however his boasts about a new recommitment to imperialism should not be dismissed as nostalgia for Empire. They are official UK Government policy.

Britain is the most important vassal state for Washington. This has real consequences for people around the world. The so-called nuclear deterrent is entirely reliant on US satellites for targeting. They can therefore only be used with Donald Trump’s permission.

For 25 years the US/UK empire has waged unending war in the Middle East. Aside from vast resources spent in the imperialist effort to dominate the region, there are the consequences for those who live there, more than a million of whom lost their lives as a consequence of Washington’s interventions, while tens of millions have been turned into homeless refugees.

The US invasion of Iraq and the wars for regime-change initiated by Washington and its Nato and regional allies in Libya and Syria have reduced entire societies to chaos and rubble.

The biggest humanitarian crisis today is occurring in Yemen. Millions are starving to death and Britain bears a significant responsibility. The UK is supplying the bombs and aircraft, helping with targeting, maintaining the fighters and training the Saudi pilots.

The main Saudi allies on the ground are al-Qaeda. There has been almost no discussion of British involvement in the press.

The same in Israel. The UK is an enthusiastic backer of Israel’s siege of Gaza. Again supplying the hardware for the slaughter of civilians.

Wahhabism and Zionism are political ideologies which were created by British imperialism. Today both are used to further US/UK imperial interests.

In his book Capitalism And Slavery, Eric Williams shows how the development of British capitalism was made through sugar, cotton, rum and slavery. After the Treaty of Utrecht in 1714 Britain gained exclusive domain over the transatlantic slave trade.

This has been written out of history.

The historian Mark Curtis estimates that between eight and 12 million people have been killed around the world since 1945 in various British-supported wars and military actions. These events have (like slavery) fallen down the memory hole.

Washington is currently undertaking a so-called pivot to Asia. This involves building up military forces in order to prepare for war with China and possibly Russia too.

Gavin Williamson and the British military establishment are eyeing this up as an opportunity to join in. They see this as a post-Brexit “opportunity”. The fact it could lead to a war that would wipe out humanity does not seem to have occurred to them.
Alan Hinnrichs
Dundee

THE debate among some National readers concerning whether or not the current Queen can be regarded as the Queen of Scots is of some interest but once again highlights the problem of trying to describe the UK as a fully functioning democracy (Letters, January 4).

As I’ve mentioned in previous letters, we have an unelected House of Lords which actually outnumbers the elected members of the House of Commons. The average cost of each member of the House of Lords is estimated to be around £83,000 per year, irrespective of their workload, and includes many such as Baroness Craigielea (formerly Labour MP for Paisley North Irene Adams) who appears to have taken a monastic vow of silence since joining the Lords – but she’s still able to submit her expenses forms! The Lords is stuffed full of political cronies and donors to the main UK political parties and offers nothing to the democratic debate within the UK – well it couldn’t, since none of them are actually elected (save for the handful of hereditary peers who ironically have to be elected from within their number).

However, if the Lords is an insult to democracy then so too is the monarchy, where an accident of birth ensures riches and a pivotal role within the UK political establishment. There is no place for an unelected head of state in the 21st century. No self-respecting democracy – or any state that aspires to be a democracy – can be ruled by an unelected and hereditary head of state.

Let’s plan for a new Scotland, one that puts fairness and equality at the forefront and one that truly believes in a fully democratic state – one without the political cronies of the House of Lords and certainly one with an elected head of state and not some medieval throwback.
Cllr Kenny MacLaren
Paisley