Benefits question

The Secretary of State for Scotland, David Mundell, asks how an independent Scotland would meet the current benefits bill and says the SNP is obliged to answer this in detail (Letters, 13 August).

I have a question for him. Is he saying that, if Scotland remains within the UK, benefits on the present pattern and scale will be paid ad infinitum?

I thought the administration of which he is a member was, of necessity, trying to reduce spending, was reviewing the whole range of benefits and actively trying to get some recipients off benefits.

The answer to his question is that an independent Scotland would finance benefits from taxation and borrowing – as does the UK and other governments. If it avoided hugely expensive military operations that might help to balance the books.

The plain fact is that, as always, the future is unknown and planning ahead is particularly difficult in this area of rapid change.

Furthermore, if independence came the Scottish political scene would alter dramatically and by no means can it be assumed that the SNP would be in power.

In these circumstances I cannot see that draft policies from the SNP or any other party would be of much help to me in deciding the basic question: “In the long run might Scotland fare better as a sovereign nation or, as Mr Mundell implies, should we keep tight hold of nurse for fear of finding something worse?”

S Beck

Craigleith Drive

Edinburgh