Cost of drink

As A pensioner, what really surprised me about last week’s Budget were not only the unfair “granny taxes” but two glaring omissions.

First, more than 5 million of the UK population of working age live on benefits.

No economy can afford this and it is appalling that there seems no effective strategy or absolute priority to get people off benefits and into work.

National service, whether military or civil and community-based, would be better than depriving people of the opportunity to contribute.

Second, we did not pay our taxes to fund the huge costs of alcohol abuse from our taxes and to oblige the NHS and police service to deal with abusive drunken behaviour.

A minimum 40p alcohol charge is unlikely to solve this problem.

People indulging in such behaviour apparently have the funds to pay for large amounts of alcohol, so why should they not repay the costs of their behaviour in full to the taxpayer?

Elizabeth Marshall

Western Harbour Midway

Edinburgh