SO Johnson doubles down on his slur against Keir Starmer and gets away with it again. He is the master of the “dead cat” strategy to divert attention and employs it with every answer to any question.

Don’t be so sure he won’t get away with bluster and blunder if questioned by the police – he will bore them into ending the interview or use words so archaic and irrelevant that time will be wasted trying to work out what he means and give him so much wriggle room it will make the interview worthless.

On Politics Live on Wednesday lunchtime the Tory Jake Berry MP doubled down on Boris’s use of the Savile slur. He also stated that Cressida Dick was responsible for the culture in the Met, so she must go – but of course Boris is not responsible for Downing Street culture.

READ MORE: Boris Johnson backs down after Jimmy Savile attack on Keir Starmer

As far as the party in the flat is concerned, Carrie will carry the can (and the fixed penalty) – neat solution. She will be willing to do this since she doesn’t want to leave her wallpaper behind.

I can just hear Boris now: “I didn’t know there was a party in my home – I just happened upon it. I did have a drink and speak to some people – I thought they were the ‘childcare bubble’.”

You have to remember this man has form and is incapable of telling the truth or of taking responsibility. There are lots more dead cats to appear – anything at all to divert attention.

Winifred McCartney
Paisley

IF Levelling Up is to carry out its stated ambition then it will require an enormous amount of work to decide what can be levelled up on a national basis within the limits of existing resources.

The Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish “block grants” are pro rata based on the amount spent by the UK Government acting as the English Government on devolved matters in England. (This would of course be the English “block grant” from the UK Government if England had its own devolved parliament.)

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As the actual size of the “block grant” is proportional to the populations in all four countries in the Union and the devolved governments can only spend their block grants on devolved matters, it is apparently a level playing field.

The devolved nations are not treated fairly, as their block grants depend on the actual spending by the UK Government on the services in England; if the UK Government’s English budget goes above predictions then more funding is provided to cover the additional expenditure and Barnett Consequentials for the three devolved governments.

There is no mechanism for unforeseen expenditure by devolved governments to trigger Barnett Consequentials. The three devolved governments do not have the power to borrow if they go over budget so must reduce spending in another area.

READ MORE: Michael Gove's Levelling Up white paper: What's in it for Scotland?

Devolution has resulted in quite wide differences in the services provided by each devolved government as a result of decisions on how they allocate the money from their “block grants”. For example, all three devolved governments have removed prescription charges although the UK Government ministers in their role as English Government ministers decided not to prioritise their removal in England.

The other three have managed their budgets in order to make this change, and there is justifiable concern that they could see their funding reduced under Levelling Up to pay for free prescriptions in England.

If Levelling Up is to be applied fairly then there will have to be a great deal of work done in order to decide a basis and standards for it, including a fixed budget for spending on devolved matters in England in line with the other devolved governments.

John Jamieson
South Queensferry

DESPITE many grandiose words describing its detail, the much-heralded Levelling Up amounts to nothing more than an inadvertent admission that there is disparity of attention and commitment paid toward different areas of the UK by the London-centric government. Words tend to flow easier than action from the current government, a elaborate distraction from its inner chaos in this instance.

As far as Scotland is concerned, it is becoming increasingly clear that we have a preferred path ahead devoid of Westminster government, a path which Northern Ireland and Wales might well share.

READ MORE: Lesley Riddoch: Boris Johnson’s desire to cling to power is exposing frailties of UK

Regarding the red wall areas north of Birmingham, clearly misled by the empty promises of Brexit and duped into support for the most heinous Prime Minister witnessed by any honourable living person today, the forthcoming actions by Scotland might well ignite serious levelling up for the said deprived areas of England if those ensconced in Westminster ever wish to be anything more than a self-serving establishment for the self-served established in their supposed House of Commoners.

Tom Gray
Braco

ALAN Woodcock’s letter about the Stones track Turd On The Run conjuring up images of the buffoon resident at no 10 Downing Street made me chuckle. Being something of a Stones fan, it immediately reminded me of several tracks that would be apt reminders of the hapless (and hopeless) UK Prime Minister.

From the album Some Girls, the tracks Lies and When The Whip Comes Down seem to be all too appropriate. The band’s debut album contains the valuable advice You Better Move On and Rock And A Hard Place from Steel Wheels sums up where Johnson currently finds himself.

While we’re here, we could throw in Fool To Cry from the album Black and Blue for Baroness Davidson, and Ain’t Too Proud To Beg from Its Only Rock ‘n’ Roll for Douglas Ross. It may well be the case that we’ll be hearing more cries of The Beatles’ Help from the Tory party in the immediate future.

Owen Kelly
Stirling?