Letter: Public sector pay rise will cost us dear

It seems to me monstrously unfair that minimum-wage workers in the private sector should both receive a lower wage than their public sector peers, and effectively fund that higher wage through cuts to services on which the poorest disproportionately rely - on top of those necessitated by budget reductions.

Moreover, it is difficult to see how Gray's proposal, if implemented, would not exacerbate the unhealthy imbalance between Scottish public and private-sector employment.

One does not need to be an economist to realise that as public wages are substantially better than those in private industry, the most talented and capable workers will gravitate towards the former.

All in all, it is very difficult to conceptualise this proposal as anything other than a big, fat bribe to Labour's core constituency. Perish the thought.

Marcus MacLean

Heriot-Watt University

Edinburgh

Scottish Labour's economic policies are obviously done on the back of a betting slip, as they are gambling on the fact that no-one will pay close attention.

Iain Gray's idea of cutting wages of the highest earners is impossible to achieve, thanks to the generous terms and conditions awarded to NHS consultants, doctors and teachers by the previous Scottish Executive.

The sums just don't add up, particularly if he thinks the Scottish Government will only award contracts to firms paying above the UK minimum wage, which adds even more to the budget deficit. Based on Labour MSPs' spending pledges in parliament during the past 12 months, they want to spend an additional 1.25 billion from the Scottish budget, and that's before building four new prisons to house everyone carrying a knife, or implementing any of London's cuts.

It is obvious there is no-one in Scottish Labour's ranks who has any experience of finance, and they still won't say which areas of expenditure they will cut.

Calum Stewart

Montague Street

Edinburgh