Brown is in no position to lecture us

His recent predictions that independence would inevitably bring higher taxes and/or cuts in services must, therefore, be seen as yet more disingenuous Unionist scaremongering.

If we kept all taxes raised here we would be better off, not worse. An independent Scotland under the SNP would also have no truck with nuclear weapons – involving a further saving.

Support for the Union is a perfectly respectable position to hold, but not one that should require to be bolstered by deliberately and mischievously misrepresenting the facts.

Peter Swain

Innerwick

Dunbar

I notice that the man who sparked a global recession, who is hardly qualified to lecture us on independence, is back in the news again.

Mr Gordon Brown reportedly does just that (14 August) then goes on to repeat the current Unionist, Tory ploy of promising jam tomorrow  after the referendum, with devo-max.

When, oh when, will intelligent people understand that, like oil and water, independence and devolution of any kind do not mix?

Independence is within the sovereign rights and constitutional gift of the people of Scotland and no-one else. On the other hand, devolution of any kind is in the gift  of Westminster and no-one else.

I sincerely hope the SNP is not so stupid as to fall for Mr Brown’s nonsense. If it does, it will be decimated after a failed Yes vote in the referendum. That would serve the party right if it was to betray the people of Scotland.

John JG McGill

Wallace View

Kilmarnock, Ayrshire

You can tell Gordon Brown has been in semi-retirement as an MP since the last election, based on his recent comments on the so-called benefits of the Union.

He believes we are better together.

Well, since he is the  architect of most of the  public sector debt via his PPP/PFI privatisation policy, not to mention selling off gold reserves when gold was at a historic low price, is it any surprise that no-one pays much attention to him?

While he’s describing the UK as a successful union his Labour colleague Douglas Alexander MP is trying to organise food banks in his constituency for those in work. That is hardly the sign of a successful economy or union.

Kenny MacLaren

Avondale Drive

Paisley

I nearly choked on my North British porridge reading your article, “Brown joins the fray…”

Is this Labour MP Gordon Brown who failed as Chancellor of the Exchequer and is considered by many the worst Prime Minister Britain has had?

Is this the visionary who left Britain with gargantuan debt, touted himself at £64,000 a speech and represents Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, a constituency that contains some of the most deprived areas in Scotland?

Brown sold off the gold reserves at rock-bottom prices, and his lack of regulation of the banks can be blamed in part for the state we are in.

He talks of “higher taxes” in a Scotland having full fiscal autonomy; I assume this scaremongering would also apply to independence. He promised “no more boom and bust” – well, he got part of it right.

We had hoped for so much from our local boy, but we watched him morph into  the usual modern politician – a blustering, incompetent, hubristic, Westminster  clone.

Bill McLean

Newmills

Dunfermline, Fife

The former Prime Minister Gordon Brown is in no position to scaremonger about higher taxes for it was he who increased the tax rate from 10p to 20p for the poorest but failed to tackle non-dom tax avoidance by the wealthy.

Under successive Labour and Tory Westminster governments the gap between the rich and poor widened in the UK and the disparity is much greater in the UK than in small, independent social democratic nations like Norway, Finland and Denmark as smaller countries are more socially cohesive and can respond more quickly to changing financial and economic conditions.

Gordon Brown’s stewardship – as PM and Chancellor – resulted in the UK debt spiralling out of control to pay for illegal wars, nuclear weapons and PFI never- never payments – and that was before the banks crashed thanks to his lack of regulation and the setting up of the tripartite system that failed to foresee the 2008 financial crisis.

Scotland more than pays her way in the United Kingdom as we get 9.3 per cent of UK spending, but contribute 9.4 per cent of UK taxes. Given his track record, why should anyone now trust Gordon Brown on the issue of Scotland’s finances?

Fraser Grant

Warrender Park Road

Edinburgh

Gordon Brown has lectured the Scots dallying with independence on fiscal prudence versus the vagaries – nay, the economic tsunami – of independence.

Not only that but his killer punch in defence of the UK was along the lines of: “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”

Crumbs, I’m either typing this while sleepwalking or I’ve woken up in a parallel universe because I thought UK Plc was bankrupt and that one Gordon Brown was in charge when it happened.

Christine Grahame SNP MSP

Midlothian South  Tweeddale & Lauderdale

Bank Street

Galashiels