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Westminster “unfairly taxing fuel”          2/7/14

 

 

Sir,

 

Angus McCormack ( Letters 26th June ) makes an excellent case for voting Yes at the forthcoming referendum. For the UK to be the largest oil producer within the EU, it is a disgrace that fuel poverty is so prevalent within our country. He also makes an excellent point that Scotland is potentially a very wealthy country, only if independent. Until we get independence, we will continue to suffer from the Tory dictate and unfair austerity programmes from Westminster.

 

The reason we have the dearest fuel, is down to the tax burden of duty and VAT. This is imposed solely by Westminster who reap all the financial benefits. The only way to address this poverty, is to reduce the amount of fuel tax. None of the main unionist parties, including Labour have any intention of addressing this unfair issue. The only real option left to the people of these islands to change this, is to support independence.

 

When we look at all the austerity measures imposed by Westminster as an excuse to address the Labour Party's banking fiasco, the Scottish government is doing an excellent job juggling the finances to reduce suffering and maintain services. To qualify for the grant Mr McCormack refers to, it has to be used within the places identified and spent on what it was provided for. It cannot be used elsewhere unlike the money for air travel within the Western Isles. Another red herring from Mr McCormack.

 

Locally, we have had fuel cost issues for decades. The local authority over this time has done very little to help ease things. They may now be helping some of those who are experiencing real poverty issues, but the only real relief we have had has been due to Gordon Maclennan breaking ranks with other local retailers and the distributor. Angus Macneil must also be given credit for his persistence in pursuing fuel derogation.

 

A good example of Westminster's disregard for the people of these islands was when Alasdair Darling current leader of the No campaign refused us fuel derogation out of hand.

 

The majority of those who caused the banking fiasco are totally free from the pain that many of us are experiencing. If the truth is told, none of us saw much of the benefits acquired when they were gambling with our money. There has been very little done to prevent the banks repeating this in the future.

 

With further cuts between £4 and £7 billion from the Scottish block grant, we can expect more and more people to suffer severe poverty. None of the three unionist parties have ever spoken of any improvements to this in the future, or reversing this unfair cost cutting programme. The only way the people of Scotland will avoid these over-zealous cuts is through independence.

 

Archie Harper

27 Shulishader

Point

Isle of Lewis

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