THE closure of Monklands accident and emergency is yet another indictment of the private finance initiative (August 22). Monklands serves a community that suffers some of the highest levels of deprivation and poorest health records in the country, with the death rate from heart disease in Airdrie and Shotts nearly 28-per cent above the Scottish average. And yet this much-needed local resource is to be closed.

This closure was, however, inevitable, for when it came to evaluating between whether it should be Monklands A&E or that at Hairmyres in East Kilbride to face downsizing, the former had one hand tied behind its back. Hairmyres was built through a GBP70m PFI project for a 30-year contract, and NHS Lanarkshire would have had to pay fees to have the contract altered and for empty space if services there had been reduced. This is in addition to the fact that PFI schemes cost more than conventionally funded projects, reducing already stretched funding available to frontline services.

Again, the use of PFI has proved to be a disaster, driven by private greed and not public need.

Alex Orr, 35 Bryson Road, Edinburgh.

DO LABOUR MPs and MSPs think the electorate has no memory? How else can you explain the in-fighting between John Reid, Karen Whitefield and Lewis Macdonald regarding the closure of the A&E unit at Monklands General?

Until 1997, New Labour was against PFI but as soon as Tony Blair and Gordon Brown got into power they simply renamed it PPP and kept selling public services to the private sector. New Labour has wasted more than GBP6bn in Scotland alone (aided by campaigning funds from trade unions meant to represent the workforce in the public sector) in scandalous PPP/PFI schemes. It's a bit late now for Reid and Whitefield to complain about the Enron economics favoured by Gordon Brown.

Kenny MacLaren, 2 Avondale Drive, Paisley.