Readers' letters: Keir Starmer’s promises might not add up

Sir Keir Starmer is reported as saying he will not make spending promises without saying also how he will fund them and gives as an example providing extra money to enable children to “catch up at school” by withdrawing charitable status from private schools.

At first sight this looks admirably clear but closer consideration suggests it is not so simple.

No doubt the Treasury can say fairly accurately how much charitable status has cost the public funds in a recent period but withdrawing it could well have consequences which are impossible to estimate with any accuracy. For instance, school fees may well rise to an extent which causes an indeterminate number of parents to give up on private education with a consequent increase in the costs of the state system.

There could, also, be less direct but meaningful consequences. Some parents may decide that instead of paying fees they will move into the catchment area for a state school with a good reputation. There are already reports of this happening and of it leading to an increase in house prices so that over time the less affluent it is desired to help are excluded.

Sir Keir Starmer says he will not make uncosted spending promises

The other example Sir Keir gives is funding more mental health care by closing tax loopholes. The Revenue has been trying to do so for decades so good luck with that.

Our society is complex and government is difficult. A politician seeking to be straight with the electorate would only be able to say “I propose doing this with a view to achieving such and such”, but while many would appreciate this many others would continue to demand a certainty which cannot exist.

S Beck, Edinburgh

BBC’s own goal

How can the BBC justify a pay rise of about 15 per cent to Gary Lineker to £1.35 million at a time of pay restraint, claiming to desperately need more money and having charged pensioners licence fees as they have a budget shortfall?

To rub salt in the wound, the "pensioner increase in budget” appears to be promoting IPlayer which appears to be aimed at younger viewers.

James Watson, Dunbar

SNP’s low bar

Yet another SNP master plan hits the rocks. "No caps will be set by Scotland on the numbers of refugees they will welcome". That was the proud proclamation as they launched their "super" plan to welcome Ukrainians fleeing their country.

Not so long ago while reports came in of refugees crammed into temporary accommodation for weeks on end the SNP denied there would be a suspension of the scheme as they floundered through the matching process. Now we learn (News, 12 July) it has run aground as they resort to "housing" 700 refugees on a repurposed cruise ship and announce – with a little less fanfare – that the scheme will be "paused" for three months – the same length of time the scheme has been running!

World-leading targets are their speciality – as is failing to meet them.

You would think that given we have recently had a chaotic UK government constantly distracted by scandal and political infighting the SNP would have a glorious chance to convince the Scottish electorate they can do better. All that they have shown is that they can do things differently. But as with the present case and the census debacle they have failed to do better than Boris Johnson. That's a pretty low bar to set yourself in the first place. Failing to meet it speaks for itself. What Scotland needs is not independence but governments at both Holyrood and Westminster which deliver on their promises.

Colin Hamilton, Edinburgh

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