Readers' Letters: Anyone calling for IndyRef2 should look at Brexit disaster

We joined the EEC in 1973 and in 1975 a referendum confirmed that decision. However, for the next 40 years a small group of politicians continued to campaign against it and in 2015 David Cameron, fed up with their constant carping, decided to end their influence by calling another. And a group of snake oil salesmen, peddling a mix of untruths and empty promises, managed to persuade 52 per cent of voters to take us out again. Although warned, the Leave voters didn’t accept it would mean more bureaucracy, restrictions on travel, problems for importers and exporters, less control over our borders, reduced support for farmers and lower GDP growth and productivity. Now we are suffering from buyer’s remorse as it has become increasingly clear that our departure was a disastrous own goal.

Accordingly, we should be wary of listening to the siren voices of the SNP telling us it is time to grasp our destiny in our own hands and march together to the sunny uplands of independence. The salutary lesson Brexit teaches us is that referendums are very blunt instruments and, when the result is close to 50:50, are statistically shaky.

Furthermore, one should be sceptical of the assurances of politicians that all the foreseeable, possible obstacles are perfectly surmountable and that in the end everything will work out for the best.

Barry Hughes, Edinburgh

Blame withdrawal

While accepting Brexit cannot simply be “blamed” for the UK's economic woes, I’d remind Brian Monteith (“Don’t blame Brexit for Labour's catastrophic economic economic mistakes”, Perspective, 21 October) that the OBR has forecast that the volume of UK world trade will be 15 per cent lower than if it had remained in the EU, representing a potential four per cent reduction in UK productivity.

Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, told a recent gathering of the IMF that the impact of Brexit on growth in the UK will be “negative for the foreseeable future”. One study has calculated that trade with India adds 0.13 per cent to the UK's economy, Australia 0.08 per cent and the US 0.16 per cent – 50 such deals would be required to make up for trade losses due to Brexit.

Graham Atherton, Edinburgh

Waiting game

Now that one in three ambulances require to queue at hospitals for over an hour (your report, 22 October), it’s time to alleviate this disgrace for patients and healthcare professionals by bringing ministers to account.

The problem, as The Scotsman reports, has got considerably worse since the pandemic, the Government can no longer blame that for horrendous health waiting times. Action is urgently needed to reverse the decline.

As clinicians will attest, the major problem remains delayed discharge, with healthier patients available to leave but without a home care plan or a convalescent bed to go to. In Edinburgh many would have gone to Corstorphine, Astley Ainsley or Liberton but, astonishingly, these and other hospitals have closed or are closing, so the only option is often to move patients home, which requires a care plan. These can be complex and require processing of assessment and personal information.

AI can speed this up while recognising specific patient needs and also identify where young people are at risk of heriditary ailments like hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes, implementing preventative care before these cause acute illness and require hospitalisation.

Unfortunately the Government remains committed to firefighting rather than investing the record extra £2 billion NHS funding from the last UK budget to free up capacity and implement a preventive health strategy.

Scotland remains the nation with the lowest life expectancy in Western Europe, including those home nations the Health Secretary likes to benchmark against, despite successive record investment in the NHS during 18 years of SNP misrule. It’s not acceptable that life expectancy for many parts of Scotland is lower than for people from significantly poorer nations in North Africa – on average healthy living is barely more than 60 years. Worsening waiting times are at the heart of the problem.

Neil Anderson, Edinburgh

Horrible truth

First stop The Scotsman Letters page. Second stop, a check of the fridge to see if I had sleepwalked and consumed a large amount of my favourite tipple during the night – but no – I had been reading Grant Frazer’s contribution (Letters, 23 October). He states: “I am delighted that BiS (Believe in Scotland) and the SNP have signed a statement of intent; a united front from business orientated BiS and the SNP.”

Well, it is hardly detente! Might we see a list of these business-minded SNP supporters in BiS?

I am fairly sure that not only is this an eclectic bunch, but also a rather miniscule one.

This is because the SNP and supporters base everything on using other people’s money (our taxes) to pay for all the freebies, so taxes are high, thus strangling growth and business expansion.

As Margaret Thatcher said, “socialism is a wonderful thing, until you run out of other people’s money”. I wasn’t a fan, but you cannot deny the horrible truth!

David Millar, Lauder, Scottish Borders

Big debts

The UK Government just can't help themselves. Another £20 billion in debt added to our National Debt in September. They state “...the highest level for the month in five years...” – but doesn't that refer to 2020 and the Great Covid Giveaway?

Aside from that, am I right in believing that the UK Government has never before taken out £20bn in a single month?

Doug Clark, Edinburgh

Direct our energies

Cold snap, clocks back, Christmas offers, inevitably it must be autumn. And what does autumn mean? Sadly, the electricity bills will start to rise. We were reminded last week by Ed Miliband, the man in Westminster responsible for energy, that the UK has some of the highest charges for electricity in the world. Yes, he did say the world.

Here in the south-west we produce much more electricity than we use or will ever need. We are not unique, other parts of Scotland are the same, and of course, overall Scotland now is an exporter of renewable generated electricity to England. The cost of generating with wind, the biggest source of generation here, is significantly cheaper than with gas or nuclear and whether you love to see the turbines turning on the hills or hate them, they are here.

So why should we in Dumfries and Galloway, or indeed Scotland, pay these high costs for electricity? Mr Miliband has just rejected “zonal pricing” for electricity users. Zonal pricing is where the closer you are to the source of the electricity, the less you pay. Greg Jackson, the boss of major supplier Octopus Energy, has said zonal pricing would offer Scotland some of the cheapest electricity in Europe. Great, but wait. London and south -east England currently pay less for their electricity than we do in Scotland. Zonal pricing would reverse that. Can we really see a London-based government ever bringing in a scheme where here in Scotland we would have much lower electricity bills than south-east England? More chance of the Scottish football team actually lifting the World Cup next year.

So fellow bill payers, this is about all of us. We either campaign for control of energy to be devolved to the Scottish Government or for the day that the small, independent, resource-rich country of Scotland joins all the other countries in Europe and beyond, who decide their energy policy for themselves. There are no other solutions open to us.

Stuart Campbell, Moffat, Dumfries and Galloway

Asset stripper

Stephen Flynn seems keen on increasing the public humiliation of those who are not in a position to respond. Not so long ago, he said Stuart Hogg should be stripped of his MBE. More recently he pressed for the peerage to be removed from Peter Mandelson. Now he wants the House of Commons to remove the Dukedom from Prince Andrew.

This seems a strange way for the SNP leader at Westminster to seek publicity.

David Hannay, Gatehouse of Fleet, Dumfries and Galloway

Irony Trumps all

The SNP administration is expecting the UK to pick up the tab for President Donald Trump's recent private visit to Scotland.

During his trip he met and dined with First Minister John Swinney at one of his luxurious hotels, where, we were told, they discussed tariffs on whisky. Security was heavy, understandably, and Mr Swinney and the President were well protected before, during and after their talks.

Now it seems the SNP administration are baulking at the cost of security and expecting the UK to pick up their tab. When it comes to paying bills the SNP have incurred, suddenly they do not want Scotland to be separate anymore, and instead be part of the United Kingdom.

The Irony Meter has once again blown every fuse.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh

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