Letter: Promises oil the wheels of electability

If ever there was a single statement which proves his unsuitability to lead Scotland, it is surely Alex Salmond's claim that in a fiscally autonomous Scotland he would have been able to cut fuel excise duty by 50p per litre compared with the 1p cut announced in Chancellor George Osborne's Budget (your report 29 March).

Perhaps he might care to explain why fiscally autonomous and hugely oil-rich Norway, the only remaining country on his "arc of prosperity", has petrol prices which are the equivalent of 1.60 a litre, considerably in excess of the UK price level.

The reality is, of course, that Norway has been able to build up a sizeable level of sovereign wealth from North Sea oil by avoiding the temptation of embarking on the type of cynical but populist spending policies which have characterised the past four years of the SNP administration.

Judging by Salmond's statement, an independent and fiscally autonomous Scotland, run by his party, would be every bit as profligate with the country's resources as he claims the UK government to be.

Of course, Mr Salmond might equally counter that just because he said he would be able to cut fuel duty drastically, doesn't actually mean that he would do so.

Such is this man's utter contempt for the electorate of Scotland, that he would do and say anything to stay in power. One can only hope the people of Scotland are reminded of all of his previously broken promises, and are not so easily fooled.

Bill Goodall

Baird Drive

Edinburgh