Readers' Letters: Stylish Starmer's 'tough decisions' equal tough luck to needy pensioners

It has come to light this week, that the current Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has declared and received two and a half times more free gifts and freebies than any other MP since December 2019, things that are worth apparently more than £100,000.

That same Prime Minister has just taken £300 winter fuel allowance from me and every pensioner in the UK.

I'm asking myself, which of these were the really “tough decisions” I think neither of them were tough at all.

Sir Keir Starmer and wife Victoria's willingness to accept gifts from patrons has raised eyebrows (Picture: Carl Court/Getty Images)

Anne Meikle, Edinburgh

Unacceptable

The recent disclosure of “gifts” received by our Prime Minister and his wife Lady Starmer both surprise and disappoint me. High moral standards in public life should always be maintained.

My father, Bill Leighton MBE, was a senior civil servant in the Hong Kong Government for 30 years. He was a man of unquestionable integrity and standards in public office.

He told me that under no circumstances whatsoever should a civil servant accept a gift. Never accept a gift because of your position in Government. Countless times, gifts arrived at our family home. These gifts were always returned with a polite note explaining why these gifts could not be accepted.

I urge our Prime Minister to show an example going forward. No acceptance of gifts of any kind either for himself or any member of his family.

Iain Leighton, Petersfield, Hampshire

Isn’t working

When will the electorate realise that it takes the tiniest of scratches to get under the skin of the Labour Party to discover the “real” Labour Party?

It is frankly astonishing to learn of the value of the “gifts” received by the Prime Minister and, of course, his wife – around £100,000 – since 2019, the greatest number of gifts/freebies of any MP in recent times.

Sir Keir Starmer told the electorate ad infinitum during the election campaign that his Government would be a “government of service” and for “working people”.

One might ask when “working people” will receive similar gifts? What he failed to add during the campaign was that it would also be a “government of personal reward”.

Richard Allison, Edinburgh

Hardly generous

In his letter of 17 September Martin Redfern refers to the “generosity of the Barnett Formula”.

My understanding of this adjustment is that it exists for two main reasons. Firstly the only one of the main taxes whose receipts flows into the Scottish administration is Income Tax: the full amount of all the others goes to the UK Treasury so it is equitable to return something to Scotland. The other reason is that like all the other regions of the UK outside London, Scotland requires a subvention to meet the obligations laid on it. Generosity doesn’t come into it.

Years after Joel Barnett had set up this ad hoc arrangement he marvelled that such a crude back-of -an-envelope scheme was still in being.

The root of it all is the system of governance that has grown higgledy-piggledy over the centuries. The recent addition of devolution to the mix and the current notion of “the four nations” have put the whole structure under strain. A radical reform seems to be required.

S Beck, Edinburgh

EU elephant

It is hardly a surprise to note the outcome of the modelling by economists at Aston University, which yet again highlights the continuing act of economic self-destruction that is Brexit.

Goods exports and imports are being seriously hit by the bureaucratic barriers erected by leaving the single market, reducing the UK’s trade competitiveness.

The research has reinforced this stifling impact, estimating that annual exports to the EU are 17 per cent lower and imports 23 per cent behind where they would have been if Brexit had not occurred, with negative impacts increasing during 2023.

Brexit continues and will continue to have a profound and ongoing impact on UK trade with the EU, and yet the Labour government continues to rule out rejoining the EU single market or forming a customs union.

The party did, however, promise in its manifesto to “tear down” barriers to trade with Europe by seeking other improvements.

If Keir Starmer is as serious as he says about economic growth and taking tough decisions, it is essential that he tackles the elephant in the room and is more ambitious in deepening trade ties with Brussels, including rejoining the EU single market.

Alex Orr, Edinburgh

No hope?

I was always interested in politics but never took an active part until the referendum. I think the pro-UK side was taken aback by the tone and ferocity of the Yes campaign, in particular the bile projected at "Westmonster" and the one-sided super-optimistic presentation of the case. I still have the spring 2014 newspaper claiming that families would be £5,000 better off that prompted me to get involved.

I'd never heard of GERS, or that a period of intense, complicated, negotiation would be required, in fact I was unclear about what were devolved and reserved areas of government and I suspect most people in the country – on either side – had very little background knowledge on the issues.

I was stunned by the deep nationalism that lurked in so many pro-Indy brains that was such a ripe propellant of the cause.

These days most No voters are miles more informed and aware of the SNP's ten years of poor performance and scandal, the cause of their general election drubbing.

You'd think we'd see a repeat in the 2026 Holyrood elelctions but this week's John Curtice poll showed the SNP would remain Holyrood's largest party with 47 seats, Labour on 33 seats, and Reform and the Tories tied for third place on 16 seats.

This may be a blip attributable to the Winter Fuel Allowance debacle, but if things do pan out that way, with Labour and SNP policies actually being very similar, my big fear is they will cut some kind of Central Belt-centric supply and confidence deal, leaving the Highlands, North East and South Scotland regions underrepresented and underpowered. We either need the SNP out of power or a strong opposition full of sensible policies to clean up the mess and rebuild the country.

By 2026 the past 29 years of failed devolution won't have thrown up many causes for hope.

Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire

Blame Brexit

Few would disagree with Jim Houston’s contention that Scotland’s public services are in crisis (Letters, 19 September), but any rational examination of the reasons would point to 14 years of UK austerity, plus the fact that when you lose the chance to run your own economy, as we did in 2014, then there is only so much that you can do to mitigate the mistakes made by Westminster politicians.

Britain is the “sick man of Europe” when it comes to health, according to a new report which highlights serious concerns about a rise in the number of people off work due to long-term illness. Health challenges facing the nation have reached “historic proportions”, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research.

After 25 years of Labour rule in Wales the situation is much worse than in Scotland but this week the First Minister, Eluned Morgan, blamed NHS bosses for long waiting lists rather than take any responsibility.

Just this week we learned that two-thirds of maternity units in the English NHS are not safe and that scores of local pharmacies are closing across England. Pharmacists in England are looking to Scotland, where our Pharmacy First scheme is more patient focused thanks to a contract between the sector and the Scottish Government setting out what services are expected, with payment for every consultation.

Last week, not a single Scottish Labour MP chose to vote against the attack on the Winter Fuel Payment despite previous Labour research suggesting that such a cut could result in the deaths of 4,000 pensioners.

Every constituency in Scotland voted against the Brexit that continues to devastate the UK economy, and as Norway, Denmark, Finland and Ireland all enjoy a far higher standard of living than the UK, then why not an energy rich independent Scotland?

Mary Thomas, Edinburgh

So many deaths

I fully support the government proposal for compulsory teaching about the Holocaust, when six million Jews were murdered in Nazi concentration camps.

However, we should also take the opportunity to teach about the nine-23 million directly or indirectly killed by Josef Stalin's regime in the Soviet Union, and also tell children about the even greater number of deaths caused by Chairman Mao in China. And let's not forget the three-11 million non-combatants killed by Japan in the Second World War.

Geoff Moore, Alness, Highland

Super Trouper

Leader Ed Davey, at the Liberal Democrat conference, sang a few lines from the Abba song Take A Chance On Me, as the Lib Dems did well in the election and that this is the message they wish to proclaim.

The real message of the election is that of a party on a third of the vote getting a landslide of seats – the Abba song, Winner Takes It All would be more apt!

William Ballantine, Bo'ness, West Lothian

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