Letters: The hypocrisy of the SNP is morally repugnant

The First Minister and her Finance Secretary should not throw stones from their glass houses and their hypocrisy is staggering as well as hugely insulting to the people of Scotland. Indeed one might refer to it as “morally repugnant”.
Richard Allison, Edinburgh

Get things in perspective

WHILE the UK economy heads down the toilet the public in Scotland are being deliberately distracted by a blemish on the bowl.

Everyone associated with the ambitious Fergusons ferries contract is no doubt sorry for the delays and cost overruns, but without making excuses for genuine mistakes made, it appears there is little wider objectivity to be found in most criticisms. Of course it is not surprising that Tory politicians, especially under the current catastrophic economic conditions that they themselves have created, are seeking out every speck on the Scottish Government’s performance they can seemingly spot. It is also not surprising that when the Prime Minister and Chancellor went AWOL as the pound was free-falling, the significance of the over-budget ferries was again magnified by willing media commentators. What is disappointing though is the lack of broad balance in economic/financial reporting across our media and the lack of effort to separate good intentions from mischievous use of public funds for the benefit of personal friends or political party donors.

BBC Scotland has taken a leading role in the ferries vilification, not only with its Disclosure programme and news reporting but even on Debate Night in Dundee (September 28) the host, Stephen Jardine, appeared desperately fixated on soliciting a public inquiry headline. Even allowing for delays resulting from the pandemic and issues that have arisen due to innovative design, the estimated cost approaching £300 million is a very high price to pay for two ferries initially budgeted at a price of under £100m. That said, this cost represents less than five per cent of the cost of two delayed and over-budget aircraft carriers with no aircraft, less than 0.5 per cent of the combined cost of failures associated with Covid-19 testing and procurement, and less than 0.05 per cent of the estimated damage to the UK economy caused by a single mini-Budget.

By all means let’s dot the i’s and cross the t’s on Fergusons but let’s also get government decisions into proper perspective and not accept duplicitous Tory politicians, or the BBC, determining Scotland’s news agenda and our future.
Stan Grodynski, Longniddry

Sturgeon has a duty to act

NICOLA Sturgeon says she has “seen no evidence" of criminality in relation to the Calmac ferries scandal, and in any case she is not responsible for deciding such matters ("‘No evidence’ of criminality on ferries deal, says Sturgeon", The Herald, September 29). Fair enough, but that is not to say that she as First Minister should ignore concerns of possible criminality in the process deliberately favouring one tenderer over the others, and surely her responsibility is to ensure they are investigated properly and openly?

As it appears she has not seen the recent BBC Scotland Disclosure programme investigating the award by her Government of that contract to Fergusons she should watch it. That programme indicated that Fergusons alone had sight of and copied into its tender word for word most of the detailed confidential technical specification drawn up by Calmac which was apparently not shown to the other companies tendering for that contract. Unsurprisingly the contract was awarded to Fergusons despite it being unable to provide the customary level of financial guarantees with its tender, that apparently being assumed by the Scottish Government, or in other words the taxpayers, and now amounting to millions and still counting.

On the face of all this there are understandable concerns that the tendering process was unfair. To address these concerns her duty is to instruct her Government’s legal advisors to determine the legality or otherwise of the disclosure of the technical specification to Fergusons alone, who was involved in making and receiving that disclosure, and why it was not questioned by Calmac who should surely have been astonished at its detailed content?
Alan Fitzpatrick, Dunlop

Sarwar ought to let it rip

NICOLA Sturgeon surely cannot believe her luck. On the day that suggestions of improper, and possibly illegal, procurement methods for the disastrous ferries contract are made public, financial markets are in turmoil as a consequence of the latest UK mini-Budget, allowing her to deflect attention by ranting and raving about the Tory Government, meanwhile choosing the same day to try to slip under the radar the fact that the ferries will not now be complete till 2024 ("Further threat delayed lifeline ferries may never be delivered", The Herald, September 29).

Douglas Ross is not in a position to lecture her on fiscal management, but Anas Sarwar should go for her and her Government with all guns blazing. The ferries fiasco is a national embarrassment for which she and her Government are responsible.
Duncan Sooman, Milngavie

The culture of greed

THERE have been, rightly, many comments made about the Chancellor’s mini-Budget and what it means for the public, in financial terms, but none about what it shows about the direction in which the public are being directed as a result.

Ministers claim that abolishing the 45% rate for high earners allows for growth and investment, as the savings "trickle down" through the economy. This is extremely unlikely, and the only trickle will be into offshore bank accounts, which will undoubtedly grow.

Ending the cap on bankers' bonuses, it is claimed, will stimulate the financial sector by recruiting the best, and so make London a leading finance hub. It is risible to think that those who brought about the financial crisis of 2008, then fired staff to reduce costs, and gave themselves bonuses for their "balancing the books", should be encouraged to repeat their "success".

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Chris Philp, said on Times Radio on Saturday that those who opposed the Budget were showing "the politics of envy". This, from the author of Work for the Dole (Taxpayers Alliance, September, 2013) advocating "mandatory community work in return for benefits", shows the desire of the current incumbents at Westminster to turn the clock back to the poor relief system of two centuries ago.

With the Cabinet full of Brexiters, aiming to make England great again, they believe that means putting the G back in GB, by resorting to the past: the G standing for Greedy.
TJ Dowds, Cumbernauld

Starmer is not the answer

I HAVE seen the plaintive question posed: "Where the hell are the decent Tories?". The answer of course is that they were kicked out of the party by Boris Johnson to "get Brexit done". This left a gap in the political spectrum which has been spotted and filled by Sir Keir Starmer, who has leapt into the lead in the polls by presenting his Labour Party as a cuddly alternative Tory Party which will retain most of the current Conservative policies, including income tax cuts, devotion to Brexit and keeping Scotlandshire securely under lock and key with nasty foreigners excluded but will do so in a nicer, sweeter-smelling fashion which will appeal to the bewildered masses in the Red Wall areas south of the Border.

The future choices for our Scottish nation are therefore likely to consist of pro-independence parties, two fragrances of Tory Party and the chameleon LibDems whose skin changes colour like the "borealis race" invoked by Burns in Tam o' Shanter – and all attributable to our national incompetence in ferry building.
Willie Maclean, Milngavie

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