Dennis Canavan fails to make a convincing case for Scottish independence, despite his attempt to jump on the anti-Thatcher bandwagon ('She reinforced the case for Scots independence', Comment, April 14).
He is correct that her government imposed on Scotland unwanted policies for housing, health, education and local government. However, these are now responsibilities of the Holyrood Parliament, and such impositions will not happen again. The same applies to the poll tax, which was introduced early to Scotland at the insistence of Scottish Conservative MPs – they paid for their folly by losing their seats, proving that Westminster elections work for the Scottish people.
The sole case which Mr Canavan makes for independence is that this would bring to Scotland control over taxes and benefits. In doing so, he draws attention to the Achilles' heel of the Nationalists' case: their continuing and dishonest insistence that Scotland can be a Scandinavian-style welfare state funded by Irish or United States-style levels of taxation. The Yes campaign can have no credibility until it either admits that taxation will need to rise to Swedish or Norwegian levels, or that at best welfare benefits will remain at UK levels.
Finally, Canavan illustrates his argument with the revelation that Margaret Thatcher could not pronounce "Falkirk". If this is evidence that she was a megalomaniac, then Scotland is full of them, in the shape of the many people who mispronounce "Portsmouth". I suspect that is rather evidence of the narrow world she inhabited. Margaret Thatcher would have never watched and heard the football results, which is how most of us learn UK place names.
Peter A Russell
Glasgow
Mostly at the taxpayers' expense, some of the finest examples of southern England's feudal society have been on display at Baroness Thatcher's funeral. Rejoice, rejoice, unfettered capitalism lives on.
As a convener of Scotland's farming union, I had a brief discussion with prime minister Thatcher on problems facing agriculture in the Highlands and Islands: loss of soil fertility, decline of crofting and so forth. I stressed the vital need to preserve environmental biodiversity. "It's not cost-effective," she snapped, and proceeded with killing off much of Scotland's dairy industry.
No surprise, her "Sermon On The Pound" had City bankers popping corks. However, her Sermon On The Mound, as Iain Macwhirter suggests in his excellent coverage of the Thatcher years, may also lead to celebrations. Rather than have taxpayers fund a statue, a more fitting tribute to Margaret Thatcher's foresight would be an independent Scotland: environmentally sensitive, no less.
Iain R Thomson
Cannich
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