Letter: Political fantasy

JIM Fairlie (Letters, 30 April) is absolutely right to say that the failure of the Scottish banks is a telling argument against Scottish independence, but wrong to imagine things might have been different under a different kind of government.

Politicians regulate businesses and tax them. If in trouble, they rescue them or nationalise them. But governments can't run businesses, regardless of their politics.

Businesses are run for profit. When run politically, they invariably fail. Another business truth for pre-election Scots is that businesses need markets. Scottish businesses succeeded in the UK when independent Irish businesses failed because the Scots were in the big UK market and prospered accordingly. On entry into the European Union, this changed but the big Scottish businesses which succeeded were those that operated multinationally. The Scotsman's list of Scottish companies will confirm this. What it doesn't show is that the capital and the customers of each of those companies are British, not Scottish.

To a great extent, independence in economic matters is a political fantasy and Mr Fairlie would do well to remember that when he next steps into a Scottish polling booth.

ROBERT VEITCH

Paisley Drive

Edinburgh