Many people complain that Britain is broken. They are wrong. Britain itself is not broken — its welfare system is. The unsustainable model practised by Labour and the SNP is dragging the country down.
The evidence is now overwhelming. The latest official figures show the unemployment rate has risen to 5%. More than 600,000 households receive more in benefits than the average worker earns.
Housing benefit is forecast to hit a record £39 billion. Nearly 1.5 million migrants claimed Universal Credit last year. Almost nine million working-age adults are economically inactive, while 44% of adults pay no income tax at all.
Read more letters:
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- Don’t blame Brexit for every economic ill in the UK
- Send in the clowns: Westminster rabble is dysfunctional
Hard-working taxpayers shoulder an ever-heavier burden as public services decline. A higher earner loses a large share of their income to tax and National Insurance. Yet an equivalent benefits package can match or exceed their net pay — completely tax-free.
The principle of “no taxation without representation” has been turned on its head. Millions who contribute nothing now help decide how much those who do contribute must hand over.
This is not compassion. It is a system that rewards dependency and punishes work. Britain can succeed, but not with this broken model.
When Labour claims to stand for “working people”, those words must actually mean what they say. Sir Keir Starmer should resign, but swapping one Labour leader for another will not fix it. It’s time for a general election, not a mere changing of the guard.
Ian Lakin, Milltimber, Aberdeen.
Voting must be made compulsory
I read with interest the article written by George Thorley on behalf of the Mercat Group of former Council CEOs and Parliamentary Returning Officers and have to agree with the logic behind it (“Low turnout for Holyrood election means it’s time to bring in system of compulsory voting”, May 16).
After reading the article it is pretty obvious to anyone with a degree of fairness that something has to change and quickly.
The article highlights that only 53.8% of the eligible voting population actually voted in the May 7 election in Scotland. This demonstrates the absurdity of the first-past-the-post system as it currently operates in this country.
To have a fair representation of the voting public, in my opinion 75% is the absolute minimum that should be considered, or compulsory voting, as in Australia and other countries around the world.
To demonstrate the absurdity, look at the facts:
Just 53.8% of the 4,266,700 eligible population voted, which represents 2,296,895. In the constituency votes the minority ruling party, namely the SNP, recorded voting of 877,077 of a possible 4,266,700 which represents 20.55% of the eligible voters.
In reality, therefore, we are governed by 20.55% and they also think that is a mandate for independence.
This is not a mandate to govern let alone seek independence.
It is therefore time to implement a compulsory voting system that truly represents the mood of the population, not the apathy which is governing our so-called democracy.
Time for change. This is not a party political statement. This is a reality check and needs to change rapidly.
Alan Rutherford, Lenzie.
A curious idea of fairness
N. Hunter of Ardrossan (“Playing the percentages”, May 18) says that voting should be mandatory in any future Scottish independence referendum and that at least a two-thirds majority should be required for it to pass.
Would he, or she, please explain how it can be fair that one side only requires 33.3% of the vote to win whilst the other side would require 66.6% of the vote to win?
David Clark, Tarbolton.
Moving on from the FM’s remark
John Swinney has forgotten that when you are in a pit, you should stop digging.
His ill-thought-out remark about “moving on” in relation to his contacts with Sinn Fein is making waves (“Swinney: I have no intention of apologising”, May 19).
His argument is that Sinn Fein are an elected administration and that he deals with elected politicians.
Mr Swinney must have forgotten that he does not deal with Israeli elected politicians and that Angus Robertson lost his Edinburgh seat on May 7 partially because of his much-maligned contact with the deputy Israeli ambassador.
Mr Swinney is happy to attack Israel regularly at Holyrood, citing its actions in Gaza, but surely the IRA were committing contentious acts for years, too, in Northern Ireland.
Mr Swinney is out on a limb here. Not a good start to his new term – and that is before a host of problems that have been kicked into the long grass re-appear.
Dr Gerald Edwards, Glasgow.
Swinney 's hypocrisy
In response to a challenge about his intentions with Sinn Fein, John Swinney’s said: “I deal with elected politicians”. Perhaps he needs reminding that Reform achieved 17 MSPs. To exclude Reform from cross-party talks is hypocrisy and double standards of the highest order.
Brian Petrie, Edinburgh.
This is the real ‘dubious alliance’
Denis Forbes Grattan’s letter, “SNP and Greens; a dubious alliance” May 18) highlights the prospect of a rise of almost 20% in energy costs coming down the line by July and suggests the outlook for businesses and households is grim. I couldn’t agree more.
With energy policy being a reserved matter to Westminster, what can we expect from the Labour government?
A reaching out, assisting households and the businesses that ultimately are the backbone of our econom? Not a bit of it: we are all witnessing a government at Westminster in crisis, too busy trying to deal with internal meltdown.
Mr Grattan speaks about “a dubious alliance” and I would suggest that from the Holyrood election result the real dubious alliance is Scottish Labour and UK Labour.
When we consider all the matters – immigration, employment law, energy, to mention a few –that are reserved to Westminster, we really have to consider if we want to be part of the chaos any longer.
Catriona C Clark, Banknock, Falkirk.
Police must take firmer control at matches
Football hooliganism in the West of Scotland is nothing new and there have been times in the past when it is was worse even than it was last weekend.
The difference is that in past times the police operated in a vastly different fashion.
Pre-match planning may, depending on the threat of disorder, have necessitated in a higher ratio of police to stewards, and pre-match intelligence gathering and firm crowd control were considered essential when tensions ran high.
At the match, the crucial focal points such as goals, disputable refereeing decisions and the full-time whistle heightened the need for the police to be totally focused on fan behaviour.
Under no circumstances would fans be allowed to spill onto the pitch.
This may even have meant at times that police snatch squads would go into the crowd and pull out trouble-makers to nip problems in the bud.
Any fan getting onto the pitch would have been arrested: arrest squads operated in addition to the officers who were policing the crowd.
We don’t need any more laws, First Minister: what we need is for the police to enforce the laws they have at their disposal and to take firm control of situations instead of talking about retrospective arrests, which do nothing to stop trouble developing at the time.
Most fans fervently support their team in a law-abiding manner, those who do not need firm policing to prevent disturbance and possible injury, not to do so will only lead to further problems.
W. MacIntyre, East Kilbride.
A pointless deduction
Will it take a fatality at the end of or during a game of football for the Scottish football authorities to act?
The scenes last Saturday at Parkhead and in the middle of Glasgow were an utter disgrace.
However, the lack of definitive action by Celtic Football Club or the football authorities is nothing short of pathetic.
If fans invade the pitch, simply deduct three points from the Club and play games behind closed doors. Pitch invasions will stop.
Richard Allison, Edinburgh.
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