Devo minimum

I wonder if your readers can help me. For years my understanding of democracy was that voters are given a real choice. On that basis can you please tell me who I should be voting for if I believe in less devolution.

As all the political parties want full independence or considerably more devolution, I am at a loss.

Scotland now has one of the highest ratios of public to private sector workers in the world. Do we therefore believe we have one of the best health or education systems in the world?

Sadly, we all know that is not the case.

We currently match England (a nation nine times our size in population) for quangos. If they have got one then no doubt we will have one too.

Can we honestly say that a country of 5 million justifies 34 local authorities and 14 health boards?

Take the NHS as an example where, unlike the English NHS, we have a policy of “no compulsory redundancy” and as result we have many “latched on” senior employees from previous reorganisations.

That then means that when it comes to making economies within the NHS, which will have to happen due to greater public expectations and increased elderly, these reductions will come from direct patient care rather than staff overheads as successive SNP and Labour administrations have failed to address this and other sacred cows.

This also before we take on the additional £2 billion costs that the Nationalists accept that they will need for set-up costs for independence.

Add that to replacing the 
additional costs that Scots get per head currently for the NHS over the English, while we remain in public health terms 
the sick man of Europe with life expectancy significantly lower in certain deprived parts of 
Scotland.

Mike Dunns

Castlehill Road

Ayr