Letter: One-off oil boom

Otto Inglis (Letters, 7 April) has summed up the difference between Margaret Thatcher and David Cameron perfectly.

Admittedly, Margaret Thatcher arrived in office just in time for the North Sea energy boom, but Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has ensured that there will be no repeat of this bounty thanks to his Budget introducing tax changes that will end oil exploration off British shores for the foreseeable future.

I voted for a Conservative government, but all I see is one that is to my mind a Liberal Democrat government. I used to think that David Cameron was a closet Lib Dem.

Now I know that he is.

If the referendum on adopting the alternative voting system produces a majority in favour, we can expect many more such unstable and unwelcome coalitions producing a mix of policies that no one actually wanted.

David Wragg

Stoneyflatts

South Queensferry

Michael Kelly's whigmaleerie* about the Tories putting and keeping the SNP in office (Perspective, 7 April) is a handy trick enabling him to swipe at both parties simultaneously; but personally I would say that by supporting the government in some useful measures the Tories have shown a higher degree of both political maturity and concern for the welfare of Scotland than Labour with its mere mindless obstructionism.

* a fanciful notion

Derrick McClure

Rosehill Terrace

Aberdeen