WATCHING a televised programme segment about the national ambulance service of Scotland, I was greatly impressed by the ambulance crews, clearly maxing out their credit card of care, over and over again, but in a manner that must surely be unsustainable for much longer.
What was also clear, from those trying to support the crews, was that carping from the sidelines with simplistic demands for simply more ambulances, instantly, merely lengthened the queue of ambulances at the doors of A&E, and even then, only if crews could be trained instantly to operate them.
Then we have GP surgeries, where waiting rooms are restricted to occupation levels of around one in three of pre-Covid-19 levels, which in turn inevitably affects A&E.
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At the heart of this conundrum is the UK-imposed austerity which has removed the resilience of these three key interdependent services, over and above any independently identified and evaluated requirement.
So, a future independent Scotland (EU) now has a requirement for both capital infrastructure (asset) investment, and revenue investment (staff), and a strange hybrid of intellectual property investment (staff expertise) which is a combination of the two.
What the potential Yes2 voter might seek to understand, as well as the obvious need for investment, is how this will be resourced in an independent EU nation state.
Well, capital infrastructure assets might well be delivered by printing Scottish Pounds, as might the bulk of the hybrid of intellectual property investment, but more staff (excluding training costs) might well be simply funded from tax and borrowing.
The exemplar decision to fund a guaranteed minimum income at the SNP conference defined the need for supply printing some Scottish Pounds, and has effectively demanded that funding streams for the required service(s) investments be on the lines as set out above.
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Using slogans such as “record investment” is excellent within a relatively unchanging world view but may well find itself associated with the “lost/found/lost again” money-tree mantras so beloved by this so cruel UK Prime Minister and his devotees.
It may well therefore be prudent for those proposing changes for which Yes2 is first required, and for the changes that may deliver Yes2, that a broad outline of print, borrow and tax, funding streams to reverse austerity v1 and v2, are submitted for scrutiny by the citizens of Scotland.
Given that it may well be some three years from now before the printing of Scottish Pounds may be functionable, the early date of indyref2 becomes vitally important. It is also worthy of note that a three-year turnaround, once funding streams are available, would initially appear somewhat unavoidable.
The question therefore is, how to put Scottish Pound debt into play at the date of Yes2, in order to support and replenish the credit card of care that the citizens of Scotland are currently carrying individually and collectively under this cruel overseeing UK austerity government.
Stephen Tingle
Greater Glasgow
ADDING to Hamish McPherson’s excellent Tuesday article (UCS work-in was caused by Tory incompetence, Sep 14), NEVIS records produced 1,000 LPs as a fundraiser, which would have brought in at least £2,000 if sold at £2 each. The album, Unity Creates Strength, had singers The Laggan, Jimmie Macgregor and Robin Hall, Alex Campbell, Dominic Behan, Danny Kyle, Ian Campbell and Alastair McDonald, and was produced and recorded by Jim McLean. All gave their services for free.
Jim McLean
London
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