YOUR banner headline of today (“Sturgeon under attack over second independence vote”, The Herald, January 15) attack is to be expected. The First Minister has deployed her standard tactic, like the housebreaker lobbing a big juicy steak into the dog kennel, to create a diversion with more sinister business afoot.
Her Government has endured a hostile press and opposition over numerous issues since the new session of the Scottish Parliament: the Scottish Police Authority, A&E figures, further education funding to Afghan immigrants (“Afghans who risked their lives for the Army denied college support”, The Herald, January 12) and more. Therefore with the possibility of a confidence vote looming on her budget she is obviously very nervous.
Let's hope no one is fooled.
Archie Burleigh,
Meigle Cottage, Skelmorlie.
THE Scottish Government has taken a position on Brexit and is choosing the facts to suit its own argument. Its latest anti-Brexit publication, Scotland’s Place In Europe: People, Jobs and Investment, is underpinned by a central claim that Scottish GDP could drop 8.5 per cent if the UK reverts to trading under WTO rules with the EU. This figure emerged from SGGEM – the Scottish Government's macroeconometric forecasting model.
What the document fails to mention is that SGGEM takes a pessimistic view that Brexit will “depress” economic activity. The model also reuses projections from the Office of Budget Responsibility, whose forecasting prowess is lamentable. As they say in the trade, garbage in equals garbage out. If the Scottish Government wants its economic model taken seriously then it should publish both the algorithm and the input datasets. Only then can we be sure that the model reflects anything more than the First Minister’s political preference.
Calum Miller,
24 Polwarth Terrance, Prestonpans, East Lothian.
ON Peston on Sunday today (January 14), Jeremy Corbyn, the possible alternative PM, has just said "that to be in the single market, the UK has to be in the EU".
Has he spoken to Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland? They think they are in the single market as members of EFTA. Are they wrong, mad or what?
Susan Grant,
Mansfield Cottage, Scotsburn Road, Tain.
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