LIKE so many of your pro-independence columnists and contributors, Alan Hinnrichs (Letters, September 10) suggests that '"Margaret Thatcher and the Tories"' laid waste to industrial and commercial Scotland, whilst implying that the people of England and Wales were living off the fat of the land.
In fact, swathes of the remainder of the UK suffered just as much. One of the main reasons that Mrs Thatcher, pictured, came to power in 1979 was because the SNP MPs supported the Tory motion of no confidence, thus bringing down the Callaghan Government.
My concern would be that, if the Yes camp carried the day on September 18, when whoever forms the government of Scotland gets their hands on the levers of power, this distorted view of history will motivate their actions. Will legislation will be framed, not so much from the point of view of the effective and efficient government of Scotland, but rather to settle old feuds, both real and imagined and to demonstrate that, whatever they are, they are not Westminster?
Christopher W Ide,
25, Riverside Road,
Waterfoot,
East Renfrewshire.
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