Sir, – It was intriguing to see that Labour has suspended nine councillors after they agreed a coalition deal with the Conservatives on Aberdeen City Council.
The Labour group signed a deal, forming an administration with the Conservatives and independents, allowing them to out-vote the SNP, the biggest party.
This was only for those Labour councillors then to be suspended by the party, a true coalition of chaos.
The rationale is that according to the Labour Party a deal cannot be done with the Tories as it would result in further austerity being imposed on local communities.
However, up until three weeks ago, Labour was in coalition with the Conservatives and three independent councillors in Aberdeen.
Indeed, Labour was in coalition with the Tories in a number of councils across Scotland, including East Lothian, Falkirk, East Dunbartonshire, South Ayrshire and Stirling.
Dare I say, it is more than a little hypocritical for Labour to have been in bed with the Tories in town halls until a matter of weeks ago, imposing cuts on communities, and then cynically perform a dramatic U-turn, coincidentally only days before a general election.
Alex Orr.
Flat Two,
77 Leamington Terrace,
Edinburgh.
Create fairer tax system
Sir, – To be potless simply means you have no money.
To be £1.7 trillion in debt means your great, great-grandchildren will be potless.
This is the sad state of “the broad shoulders” of the UK economy.
Could it be turned round? Here are some hints.
If you increase a person’s benefit by an extra £10, that £10 goes straight back into the economy, without hitting the deck.
If a banker or chief executive is rewarded with a bonus of £500,000, the chances are it goes straight into a Swiss bank account.
Our income tax laws, now running to dozens of thick volumes, require simplification.
Why doesn’t this “strong and stable” Government close all tax loopholes and end the two-way tax system: pay as you earn and pay as you like?
Is it perhaps because too many cabinet ministers employ the latter category?
Joseph G Miller.
44 Gardeners Street,
Dunfermline.
Labour fiscal plans danger
Sir, – As the Liberal Party made plain for many decades, the great thing of having no chance whatsoever of forming a government is that you can promise gullible punters the moon.
So Jeremy Corbyn blithely claimed he would raise £50 billion from various tax raids to spend on white elephants such as the NHS, schools, childcare and renationalising everything.
Sadly, the Institute for Fiscal Studies cautioned his back to the sombre seventies idea of an 80% marginal tax rate on those earning over £80,000 would stall on the Laffer Curve.
Rev Dr John Cameron.
10 Howard Place,
St Andrews.
Second-class Scots hit back
Sir, – Following the 2014 referendum result, an Angus SNP councillor was reported in the press as saying that all those who voted No were second-class Scots.
Now, following the recent local elections, perhaps these same second-class Scots have remembered how they were tagged by that councillor, and have cast their votes accordingly, thereby helping to oust the SNP from the council administration.
Some people can’t remember what they had for tea last night, but others have long memories.
Lamont Forbes.
Andson Street,
Friockheim.
Who can afford to take year off?
Sir, – With regard to the Tories giving workers the right to a year off to look after loved ones, I wonder how people on zero-hour contracts will fair if they ask their employers for time off?
And how are they going to afford it if they are on the minimum wage? This is all part of their plan for care in the community, taking pressure off the NHS.
Alister Rankin.
93 Whyterose Terrace,
Methil.
Wealth must be created
Sir, – Jeremy Corbyn, pictured, is greatly disturbed by the thought that wealth in the UK is unfairly divided. Just how does he think wealth became divided?
As far as I am aware the most obvious reason is that some people work harder, create wealth by their own endeavours or inherit the wealth created by their forebears.
There is no point in time when some unfair distribution of wealth was organised by any one person or company,
If Mr Corbyn believes that he can unravel wealth by taking from the rich and giving to the poor I suggest he is deluded but I will admit the idea will appeal to certain sections of the population.
AA Bullions.
6 Glencairn Crescent,
Leven.
Labour sets out clear priorities
Sir, – At last a major political party with some principles. You don’t have to agree with every word of it to realise that in its manifesto, Labour is setting out a clear analysis of all that is wrong with Britain under the Tories and what should be done to put it right.
In particular it sets out a long-term plan for rescuing our public services from the dire straits to which Conservative austerity, passed on and added to by the SNP Scottish Government, has brought them.
They rightly say that tax rises should be fair and met by wealthier companies and individuals, not by ordinary working families.
I find Theresa May’s cynicism breathtaking. She refuses to talk to ordinary folk, preferring to go in front of the cameras in factories but not a television studio, surrounded by Tory activists after the workers have gone home.
I am pretty sure that over the coming weeks, voters in Scotland will see through these moves for what they are, an act by desperate people.
Phil Tate.
95 Craiglockhart Road,
Edinburgh.
EU plunder of fishing grounds
Sir, – The whole ethos of the European Union is based upon a socialist principle that assets of any one member state should be shared with all member states, hence the 40-plus year raid on fishing stocks in United Kingdom waters.
The Norwegian fishing industry has long been opposed to such policies.
With other impoverished European countries poised to join the European Union (including Serbia and Montenegro) who are all net beneficiaries of other countries’ assets, it is amazing that the SNP is so blissfully unaware of European Union policy and its future effects, that this party of independence-obsessives continues to promote EU membership as the only way to preserve Scotland from these wicked Conservative toffs south of the border.
Derek Farmer.
Knightsward Farm,
Anstruther.