Readers' letters: Stop chasing parents for ‘school meal debt’

I recently attended an STUC meeting on how disabled workers are coping in this “cost-of-living crisis,” and learned that 25 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities are chasing parents for “school meal debt”. Edinburgh has just stopped this abhorrent practice.
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Children receiving financial assistance for school meals are already stigmatised and singled out and now their families, too, are being harassed during this unprecedented economic crisis.

Why have local authorities authorised this massively damaging witch hunt of the poorest members of Scottish society?

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The right to food is a human right, protected under international and human rights law. It guarantees the right of all people to live in dignity, free from hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition.

Edinburgh has stopped seeking to recover ‘school meal debt’Edinburgh has stopped seeking to recover ‘school meal debt’
Edinburgh has stopped seeking to recover ‘school meal debt’

The UK Government and Scottish Government are legally required under international human rights law to secure the right to adequate food for all citizens. After years of UK government austerity, malnutrition, hunger and food bank usage have soared, in breach of our international legal obligations.

The Scottish Government is trying to incorporate International Human Rights Treaties into Scotland’s domestic law. However, this won’t happen overnight. Given the experience of the first UN Treaty to be incorporated (the Rights of the Child), the UK Supreme Court will tie Scotland’s hands, cementing our de facto colonial status.

Why is the Scottish Government not urgently seeking to enforce the sovereignty of the Scottish people and the restoration of our independence? This is not a “cost-of-living crisis”, but a “cost-of-Union crisis,’ which is why this Union must end.

Alex Thorburn, Lockerbie

Irish example

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John McLellan (News, 15 December) fails to understand that the reason more people are supporting independence is that under Westminster control of our economy, Scotland’s total wealth is only roughly half that of Denmark, Finland, Ireland or Norway all of whom have higher taxes but a far higher standard of living.

In Ireland, the basic pension is £214 a week compared to £185 in the UK and the average annual salary in the UK is £29,600 whereas it is £38,000 in Ireland. Irish citizens live a year longer than the UK average and are far more likely to describe their personal health as good. Their economic wealth per person exceeds the UK. Fewer are in poverty and levels of income inequality are far lower. They are more highly educated. Their media is deemed far freer and they are far more satisfied with how their democracy operates. Ireland has a younger population with one in five born elsewhere while Labour and the Tories outbid each other on curbing immigration. As part of the EU, Ireland has built a well-working, modern republic that delivers for its citizens.

Since Brexit, 1,200 financial sector jobs have moved from London to Dublin and over forty direct sailings each week to Europe transport Ireland’s flourishing exports. Why not an energy rich independent Scotland with a healthy balance of trade surplus?

Mary Thomas, Edinburgh

Tax tattoos

Watching the World Cup I suddenly realised what taxes could be raised to assist those who need it. The highest UK rate is 45 per cent for those earning over £150,000 a year. A Tattoo Tax is the answer. Footballers earn more in a week than many people do in a lifetime.

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A Tattoo Tax of 20 per cent for every tattoo, not just footballers but everyone, would soon fill the nation's coffers.

Clark Cross, Linlithgow

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