Letter: What have coalition Scots done for us?

While Scottish anger at the UK Chancellor's imposition of an additional 2 billion annual levy on North Sea oil profits has been targeted at the Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander, his fellow Scottish Lib Dem MP Michael Moore also needs to be held to account in his role as Scotland Secretary.

The Scotland Secretary's official remit is to champion the Scottish interest at the UK level of government.

But attempts to get the Scotland Office to confirm that the Scotland Secretary was consulted prior to the Budget decision have so far been rebuffed.

A press release posted on the Scotland Office website the day after the Budget advised that the relations between Whitehall and the devolved administrations had been improved by the appointment of a minister with special responsibility for liaising with the devolved administrations… that is Danny Alexander.

So did the two Lib Dem MPs consult on the decision to impose an additional 2bn tax on Scotland's most productive industry?

And if they did, as Scotland's only permanent members of the Cabinet did they discuss using the Lib Dems' vaunted bargaining power in the coalition to try to extract some remotely proportionate compensation for Scotland, such as the release of the 200 million fossil fuel levy or a commitment to basing the UK's first Green Bank in Scotland?

Perhaps they could enlighten us.

Andrew Rosie

MacDowall Road

Edinburgh

UKIP's manifesto for the Scottish election suggests abolishing MSPs and instead having the present Scottish MPs do the job on a part-time basis (your report, 5 June).

Since this exactly replicates the Scottish Grand Committee whose failure in the 1990s assisted the move to devolution it would seem that its knowledge of the Scottish scene, understandably for a London-based party, is somewhat out of date.

Of course, Scotland is over-governed. It could be said that 129 MSPs is somewhat generous and expensive in these fiscally tight times, especially for a population of only 5 million people.

In addition to reducing MSP numbers a more sensible solution would be if Scottish MPs were abolished and a representative group of MSPs took their place at Westminster on the declining number of times that national matters affecting Scotland are debated.

The other nominally right-wing party, the Conservatives, also seems to have not put much thought into its manifesto. Giving a 200 discount on council tax to all pensioners is a simple bribe but doesn't take into account real need.

While there are pensioners who find the unfair nature of council tax onerous, many other pensioners have quite substantial financial resources and with mortgages paid off are in a much better financial position than younger working families.

Is it just a coincidence that the Conservative leader – and MSPs standing for re-election – would qualify for the discount despite having salaries of more than 60,000 with generous expenses?

Bruce D Skivington

Strath

Gairloch, Wester Ross

In answer to Mr Andrew H N Gray (Letters, 29 March), we are not all pensioners and those of us who are are gainfully employed in the voluntary sector.

Mr Gray belittles the revenue contribution from Scottish oil and whisky and tells us of the major contribution made by the City of London. Is this the same City whose stock exchange manipulators, along with Chancellor Gordon Brown and toothless bank regulators, brought three major banks and two building societies to their knees and had to be rescued by the British taxpayer?

Is it not the case that the present Tory/Lib government is being bailed out by North Sea oil revenue in an attempt to combat high fuel prices at the pump? North Sea revenue is real, not like the funny money associated with the financial City of London.

Let's not forget that previous Westminster governments were bailed out by Scottish oil, not by the City of London or by the car industry.

Let's not forget what Labour leader James Callaghan said in his autobiography: "If it hadn't been for Scottish oil, the UK would have been bankrupt," nor forget Gordon Brown praising his City of London acolytes, followed a year later by the biggest financial bust in UK history.

John Miller

Blackford Bank

Edinburgh

I can see some merit in the alternative vote electoral system, so I intend to put it in second place in the referendum.

Richard Lucas

Broomyknowe

Edinburgh