Letter: Public sector role

As a general rule (having worked in both sectors) I find most criticisms of the public sector ill-informed, badly focused and usually unhelpful.

The two sectors of our economy are not in competition with each other. They complement each other. The idea that the private sector creates the nation's wealth while the public sector spends it is quite mistaken.

Of course, public services are paid for out of taxation while companies charge what the market will bear. But while the pricing models raise problems, both sectors contribute to overall national productivity.

If the private sector didn't have an educated, healthy work-force, emergency services, or airports, docks, roads and telecoms to deliver their products, they'd have to buy them, as they do in other parts of the world. And most often of a far lower standard than in the UK.

Nor does anyone seem to consider, even here in this great international metropolis, the direct productivity of the public sector in successfully attracting millions of customers for higher education, tourism, the arts and so on. Where would our private sector be without it?

If we properly understood our economy we'd want to keep jobs, not cut them. We'd want to increase productivity, not reduce it. We'd want a government to focus on rewarding real work, rather than encouraging those who simply gambled with our savings.

ROBERT VEITCH

Paisley Drive

Edinburgh