‘Socialist drivel’

Published on 15/01/2013 00:00

Ray Newton (Letters, 14 January) is altogether too modest about Scotland’s role in shaping the Britain we live in today.

He claims that both the Conservatives and New Labour were bent on de-industrialising “the north of England and Scotland” and that they relied upon “a deregulated ‘casino banking’ system of the City of London making the rich richer at the expense of the poor”. This is socialist drivel of the finest quality.
Mr Newton is clearly unaware that we live in a free market economy where some win and some lose. Honda and Jaguar underlined last week that there are two sides to this coin.

Indeed, thanks to our strength as an undivided country, we are looking towards markets outside the EU, as we have to and as we always did before the ­European obsession took over.

Now, we are seeing the UK begin to overtake France as the world’s fifth-largest economy.

Mr Newton’s cheeks will, no doubt, be a little pink when he remembers that small matter that would have bankrupted a separate Scotland, had we been foolish enough to plunge ourselves into mass uncertainty and vote to break up the Union.

That was the matter of the banks, not in the City of London, but in the City of Edinburgh. Has it slipped Mr Newton’s memory that it was HBoS and RBS which cost the UK more than £100 billion, not including the £300bn-plus in guarantees?

Voters in Scotland should be kept informed about our ­nation’s contribution to the state of the British economy and the benefits that have come to us from our shared identity lest they hear only the siren song of the disaffected.

Perhaps someone should tie Mr Newton to his ship’s mast for his own protection.

Andrew HN Gray

Craiglea Drive

Edinburgh