Brexit economic crisis looms over Scotland - your views

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Brexit economic crisis looms over Scots

Ian Murray rightly rubbishes hedge-fund Sunak’s spending plans to freeze public sector pay in the midst of a global pandemic and Brexit fiasco (News, November 26).

However, he’s wrong to lay the blame at the feet of the Scottish government, that has been begging for more borrowing powers to keep the economy afloat and make the public sector investment necessary to weather this crisis and build for a sustainable future.

In a few weeks, Scotland will be forced from the EU, a colossal folly that will compound our economic misery for decades.

What’s worse, the Tory government is fully aware of this looming systemic economic crisis but doesn’t care. It doesn’t care about the poor who will be harmed most. It doesn’t care about investing in the NHS but would rather outsource to its wealthy friends and donors.

It doesn’t care that more people will die of medicine shortages, not have safe drinking water because we won’t have the necessary chemicals and suffer food shortages. But it can spend £16bn on ‘defence.’

The answer is not more devolution, which the Tories are destroying with their Internal Market Bill. It’s to leave a grossly unequal union controlled by a corrupt and incompetent cabal and re-join thesmall European nations that have the power to make decisions to benefit their people.

If Mr Murray understood this, Labour would not be languishing in the Scottish political wilderness, on the verge of extinction.

Leah Gunn Barrett, Merchiston Crescent, Edinburgh.

Scotland must be free to help itself

Ian Murray should acknow- ledge that, thanks to the SNP, key public sector workers such as teachers, nurses, police officers and council workers, including social care staff, are already better paid than their English counterparts.

Under devolution, a Scottish government can’t just print money like Chancellor Rishi Sunak and we urgently need borrowing powers for Scotland at this time of historic low interest rates in order to invest in our priorities as part of the Covid and Brexit disaster recovery plan.

The Scottish government has already invested £50 million into BiFab, whose Canadian owners are refusing to support in order to win contracts, and State Aid rules prevent guaranteeing bank loans to the company.

But the problems of BiFab go much deeper. Despite £250 billion of oil and gas revenues going to London, Westminster governments, including 18 years of Labour rule, failed to invest in Scotland’s massive alternative energy potential or in other future technologies to benefit Scotland.

Fraser Grant, Warrender Park Road, Edinburgh.

Covid restrictions don’t make sense

A report indicates that 70 per cent of the public are against the relaxation of Covid restrictions over the Christmas period, once again proving that the general public has more common sense than politicians.

What's next from politicians - "Some people will do it anyway, so let's make burglary legal"?

David J Mackay,

Gladhouse Place, Edinburgh

Biden’s Irish question

Joe Biden calls for an open border on the island of Ireland; a fair comment, but why don't Americans practise what they preach?

Why not have an open border with Mexico? Democrats have been almost as assiduous as Republicans in fence building there going back to the time of Clinton.

William Ballantine, Dean Road Bo’ness.