A call to rally against civic arrogance

This is no longer being done for the benefit of the public – it never was – but as a damage limitation exercise for those sitting on the City of Edinburgh Council.

It is these people who we may now take some belated action against.

May I suggest that all those who have raged at this ridiculous scheme now cast their votes in the forthcoming elections for anyone who was not a sitting councillor. In this way we could conduct an anti-tram campaign that is non-party political.

“A plague on all your houses” seems a reasonable response for all those who sat on the body that oversaw this disaster.

For years these people have sneered at public opinion and refused to hold any form of referendum on this operation that has left businesses’ and individuals’ lives wrecked in its wake.

Now is the time we can make them regret their arrogant disregard for the people they supposedly represent.

May I suggest that we all discover the name of our present councillor and cast our vote in the election for someone else, anyone else. The simple outcome, hopefully, would be an all-new council which would have to listen to its electorate.

Do I have any support for this idea?

Howard Lewis

Hailes Avenue

Edinburgh

May I suggest that all those councillors applying for re-election and who voted for the trams should be obliged to reveal this on a prominent display at each polling booth.

After all, they must be very proud of their achievements so far.

Jeremy Livingstone

Lennox Street

Edinburgh

The City of Edinburgh Council’s decision to pursue the Portobello Park campaigners for legal costs (your report, 31 March) is disgraceful.

It doesn’t matter whether the protesters were right, or even what they were protesting about. What matters is that in a democracy the people must be able to hold the authorities to full and public account, and to question the legality of their actions.

Authorities like the council must act within the law. The only way we can know that they are is if the public are able to challenge their decisions in court. If the council is successful it will prevent many other protesters across Scotland being able to take cases to court in future.

And then decisions will be made not in favour of those with the law on their side, but those with the deepest pockets. The council’s costs, at £70,000, are serious. But nobody ever said democracy was the cheapest way to run a country.

Matthew Egan

Preston Terrace

Linlithgow