Letter: Poor punished

I was disgusted by the opposition parties' attitude in the Scottish budget debate (your report, 27 January). Now, I accept, that Labour make up their minds before a figure is mentioned and that if the SNP were to put the entire Labour manifesto into the budget, Labour would still vote against it.

But even if they have an opposition-for-opposition's-sake attitude, the Labour Party should be looking to protect those on low incomes, just as the SNP government has done.

However, they've decided to remain opposed to the council tax freeze. SNP MSP Joe FitzPatrick put it perfectly - in Dundee under a Labour administration, council tax increased by more than 50 per cent, putting pressure on those with the least ability to pay.

Finance secretary John Swinney should be praised for committing to maintain the council tax freeze and the small business bonus scheme. However, these fantastic policies must be funded somehow. I see nothing wrong in asking those making large profits to pay just that bit more. If Tesco makes 3.4 billion pre-tax profits and its share of the levy is 9 million then that is a drop in the ocean to it. Not a single job should be lost as a result and any suggestion that it would is quite honestly nothing less than supporting greed.

So those five members of the local government committee who voted against the highly progressive proposal should be absolutely ashamed of themselves, and no doubt will be punished at polling stations across Scotland come May.

John Lind

Fraser Street

Aberdeen