Dear Editor
When it comes to voting in May we must choose somebody who we think will work to make society much fairer to everyone.
At the moment we live in a capitalist society in which the Conservatives absolutely believe, whereby the owners of wealth more or less decide what will happen through their ability to invest in industry and business to maximise profits, moving their money out of industry and business if the profit is not enough.
This ability or power to close places of work dies cause dreadful hardship to an individual and their families; also the knock-on effect damages society as a whole.
99% of the population should not be at the mercy and whims of the very wealthy 1% deciding if we work or not. Elementary fairness should mean all wealth produced be used for the benefit of all.
Everyone must choose carefully in May to avoid a repetition of the last five years.
A. Delahoy, Silverknowes Gardens
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I agree with A.Delahoy. Just one small observation though: the problem isn’t the conservatives. The problem is Westminster. No matter who is in power they are persuing the same right-wing agenda. And Scotland will get the government that England votes for. For 65 of the last 67 years, Scottish MPs as an entity have had no practical influence over the composition of the UK government. Vote Labour or Conservative and you are voting for right wing politics.
In Scotland the SNP have taken up the ground Labour used to occupy. The Greens are more left wing than the SNP. I want Westminster to deliver their pre-referendum Vow of home rule/ federalism/Devo Max. The only way that can possibly happen is with a strong block of SNP MPs.
– on ONE occasion (1964) Scottish MPs have turned what would have been a Conservative government into a Labour one. The Tory majority without Scottish votes would have been just one MP (280 vs 279), and as such useless in practice. The Labour government, with an almost equally feeble majority of 4, lasted just 18 months and a Tory one would probably have collapsed even faster.
– on ONE occasion (the second of the two 1974 elections) Scottish MPs gave Labour a wafer-thin majority (319 vs 316) they wouldn’t have had from the rest of the UK alone, although they’d still have been the largest party and able to command a majority in a pact with the Liberals, as they eventually did in reality.
– and on ONE occasion (2010) the presence of Scottish MPs has deprived the Conservatives of an outright majority, although the Conservatives ended up in control of the government anyway in coalition with the Lib Dems when Labour refused to co-operate with other parties in a “rainbow alliance”.
– which means that for 65 of the last 67 years, Scottish MPs as an entity have had no practical influence over the composition of the UK government. From a high of 72 MPs in 1983, Scotland’s representation will by 2015 have decreased to 52, substantially reducing any future possibility of affecting a change.