JUST now and again there is a letter or article in your pages that I find difficult to continue reading because it so closely mirrors, even confirms, fears that I have had for a long time. Just such was the letter from Andrew Reid (January 13).
I have long feared that the new Scottish hubs for “the UK Government in Scotland” heralded much more direct interference in Scottish affairs hitherto managed by Holyrood and was part of a long-term plan to undermine devolution and make our parliament less relevant. Why else, when devolution had so significantly diminished the remit of the Scotland Office, would such extensive premises be necessary?
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That staffing of these premises was simply part of a plan to disperse existing jobs to benefit these areas with greater employment is not credible. Moving a job from A to B does not improve employment opportunities at B, if the post comes with an occupant. To me, it seemed obvious that this was to install Westminster agencies where they could have a more direct input, hence the designation as an active part of Westminster government.
Now, the Internal Market Bill gives Westminster the power it needs to use this set-up to retain control of the monies previously coming from the EU to Holyrood, to be disbursed as suited Scottish needs. Such monies will now be provided, not to Holyrood, but to “the UK Government in Scotland”, to spend directly on whatever Westminster decrees, bypassing Holyrood altogether. This will also include Barnett consequentials and no doubt these former additions to the Scottish budget will in future be deducted, on the grounds that Holyrood is not involved in their spending.
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How long before Westminster claims that they are “delivering for Scotland” and Holyrood is redundant? They will use the decimation of our businesses – such as fishing, processing, transport, farming etc – that has already occurred in the two weeks since we finally left the EU to reinforce their argument that Holyrood is not only ineffective but also an economic failure and therefore a waste of money. This plan was devised a very long time ago, as the only way to stop independence once and for all, and the hubs were only the first part of the preparation.
Some may say that closing down Holyrood would be a step too far, but I truly fear that no step is too far for Boris and his power-hungry self-seekers, as it has become obvious that even illegality does not bother them and under the Internal Market Bill, it needs only one minister to make the decisions. This bill gives them the power and the hubs provide the ready-made replacement for Holyrood for a smooth transition.
Indeed, what is to stop them even in the very near future, even before the Holyrood elections? Has anyone, anywhere, taken this threat seriously and worked out how to combat it?
Wake up, Scotland!
L McGregor
Falkirk
MANY thanks to Andrew Reid for his long letter in which he brilliantly outlines the devious intentions behind the Conservative government’s Internal Market Bill and its serious implications for the Scottish Government. Compulsory reading for anyone who doubts the nefarious depths to which Westminster will stoop in order to undermine our government and the campaign for independence.
Owen Kelly
Stirling
THANK you for John McLeod’s letter (January 12). It is indeed time for Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond to sit down together and sort things out for the sake of the nation.
Alex Salmond was recognised as the ablest politician in the UK. Perhaps this recognition meant that he had to be sidelined by the political establishment. In any case, Salmond has been legally cleared of all charges made against him.
As to reconciliation, we might all learn from the very first Scottish nationalist, arguably, Saint Columba. In his rule we read: “Forgiveness from the heart to everyone. Constant prayers for those who trouble thee. Follow almsgiving before all things. Take not of food till thou art hungry. The love of God with all thy heart and all they strength. The love of thy neighbour as thyself.”
READ MORE: Letters, January 12
It goes on to exhort: “Abide in God’s testaments at all times. Thy measure of prayer shall be until thy tears come; or thy measure of work, of labour until thy tears come.”
Columba certainly lived out and fulfilled his role: a man of vast vitality and most lively intelligence, a poet and a man of action. He worked tirelessly, fearlessly and diplomatically to consolidate and protect the situation of the Scots in Dalriada. He and other Irish monks brought Christianity to the islands and throughout other parts of Scotland. He negotiated with the northern Picts who had constantly attacked and threatened the Scots with defeat. He brought peace to his own people in Scotland. And this was not colonialism, for it was Columba again who travelled back to Ireland and negotiated the independence of the Scots here from the rule of those in Ireland.
An exemplary nationalist.
Lesley J Findlay
Fort Augustus
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