Forth waste

I note the SNP Government is to ask Westminster to pay the £2.3 billion cost of a new Forth crossing.

One would hardly think the SNP was a party committed to independence from the UK. Perhaps they should be asking Brussels for this sub since this would be more ideologically compatible with their opposition to independence from the EU.

In any case, there is no question that, at 2.3bn, the project is grossly overpriced. The previous bridge cost, in inflation-adjusted figures, 320m and this is similar to bridge prices across the world. Better even than that is the fact that a tunnel could be cut for 40m or that the bridge could be recabled, with far stronger materials than existed 50 years ago, and thus double decked as was done with Lisbon's bridge some years ago for around 10m.

Not a single MSP appears to feel able to dispute that the facts show what a massive rip off is going on.

NEIL CRAIG

Woodlands Road

Glasgow