Sir, – The rank hypocrisy of the Scottish Tories knows no bound.
While calling on the first minister to resign over allegedly misleading the Scottish Parliament, Prime Minister Boris Johnson was proven to have misled the Westminster Parliament, stating all Covid-related contracts were “on the record”.
This was three days after the High Court ruled the UK Government had acted unlawfully by failing to publish hundreds of such contracts.
Two weeks prior to this, Matt Hancock, the health secretary, was found guilty of illegal activity by the High Court, and refused to resign or even apologise when the extent of illegal awarding of PPE contracts was revealed.
Last year Tory home secretary Priti Patel was found guilty of breaching the Ministerial Code.
Compare and contrast that with north of the border, where the Tory party have demanded the resignation of the first minister even before the outcome of the inquiries into the handling of the Alex Salmond case by the Scottish Government has been published.
Yet, not a chirp from them demanding an apology let alone a resignation for the flagrant abuses by their Westminster colleagues.
What hypocrites.
Alex Orr.
Marchmont Road,
Edinburgh.
What’s not to like in a council tax freeze?
Sir, – Willie Wilson’s letter (Council tax freeze harms everyone, Courier, March 6) is a hard sell to most people.
What’s not to like about a tax freeze?
Well, the money comes from us anyway and what it does is minimise the ability of councils to respond to local needs.
In future the baseline of council tax will be smaller so that it has a compound effect.
The SNP government has used council tax freezes over the years to emasculate local government and concentrate power over funding centrally.
This is in parallel with removing major responsibilities like police and fire. By population Scotland is smaller than many large world cities so it could be argued that we don’t need local government, but the SNP don’t usually push Scotland being wee.
What grates is it has all been done without the centralising project being made plain in manifestoes.
George Hayton.
Montgomery Way, Kinross.
Lib Dems’ political opportunism
Sir, – The SNP has produced an excellent Budget for Scotland.
Once again the SNP has provided record funding for our NHS, increased investment in our schools, and additional funding to help tackle the climate emergency.
All of these things have been provided in previous Budgets and have been voted for by the Green Party on each occasion.
The Lib Dems have been blowing their own trumpet about backing this Budget.
In previous years they have voted against the extra funding in this Budget, so what is different this time around?
Could it be the election in just a few short weeks?
If the Lib Dems were serious about working for the greater good of Scotland they would have put aside their knee-jerk anti-SNP obsession long before now. As it is, we can all clearly see political opportunism.
Matthew Cassen.
Freuchie, Fife.
Wild camping is not the right description
Sir, – The desecration of our countryside has started with the influx of irresponsible hordes to our lochs and glens, who come and go, leaving behind their abandoned camping equipment and all sorts of rubbish.
As a seasoned hillwalker and camper, I take exception to the term “wild camping” used in the context of this despicable behaviour.
In the outdoor community, the term “wild camping “ refers specifically to the practice of packing tent, food and cooking equipment into your rucksack and heading into “the wilds”.
I do agree with the use of “dirty camping” as that is accurate, but I would suggest that “roadside camping” would be a more appropriate alternative.
Bert Barnett.
Step Row,
Rattray.
