Letter: We deserve more

Joan McAlpine (Perspective, 1 February) makes a strange attack on the Greens for allegedly not wanting to protect jobs when her own SNP administration is busy handing on the Tory cuts to Scottish public services.

There is no way Greens will support this ideological assault on the public sector, and many Scots will oppose it too; ask the 900 employees of Aberdeen City Council being forced into redundancy thanks to the unfair terms of John Swinney's squeeze on local funding. Talk to the 150 employees of Borders Council whose jobs will go.

A progressive Scottish Government would have told the Tories where to get off and used Scotland's existing powers to protect local services, services the poorest in our society rely upon.

The large retailers' levy is a baby-step in the right direction, but we have proposed constructive and progressive ways of raising substantial revenue in the short and long term. The fact is that the cuts are a choice the Tories have made, the Lib Dems have rubber-stamped, and the SNP have decided to reproduce in Scotland.

Instead of attempting to honour any supposedly centre-left credentials, John Swinney seems determined to fulfil the role of the pre-devolution Scottish Secretary, doing George Osborne's bidding without question.

Scotland deserves better, and in May Scots can elect a parliament more ready to defend our public services.

Patrick Harvie MSP

Scottish Parliament

Edinburgh