Letters / Sell the sizzle, not the steak
Few have embraced Elmer Wheeler’s legendary advice with such gusto as SNP candidate Hannah Mary Goodlad.
Omnipresent and armed with a “personal manifesto”, she weaves a tantalising tapestry – Faroese self-governance, local control of energy, protecting fishing and a “seat at the table”. A heady mix replete with ‘sizzle’.
But what of the ‘steak’?
Wisely coy about independence she doesn’t mention the £26.5 billion more we receive from Westminster than we give back – a £4,000 per head subsidy that will end with independence. Austerity will be unavoidable.
Rejoining the EU means EU vessels taking the lion’s share of Scottish fish. Total allowable catches are negotiated between Brussels and non-EU nations like Norway and Faroe, and passed down to local level. The Shetland fishing industry will be hit hard, damaging the economy and putting livelihoods at grave risk.
Moreover, a “seat at the table” – one of 60 SNP MSPs – means scrambling for scraps from decisions made above them.
By contrast, smaller parties holding the balance of power can extract significant concessions. LibDems successes include this year’s £2.8m for NorthLink fare reductions and previously, major advances like the NorthLink daily service itself and the Air Discount Scheme.
Meanwhile, the SNP seized Shetland’s £2m per year (Westminster) rate support grant; withheld £5.5m per year ‘fair ferry funding’ for seven years; centralised emergency services; and failed to renew the ageing hospital.
At national level, they allowed men convicted of rape and even murder to “self-identify” as women and be housed in women’s prisons – after they were convicted! A policy which is currently exploding in their faces.
Enough said. The SNP “steak”, 19 years overcooked, is dry, sinewy and best nailed to the sole of our boot.
A vote for Goodlad is a vote for the same old SNP you rejected so emphatically in the past.
John Tulloch
Aberdeen
