THE new UK Labour Government has promised change but so far it seems that no significant change is possible because of the awful financial inheritance from the previous government. Actions so far indicate that we will have to wait until the country has significant growth, and tax income increases, before anything can be achieved. So are there things which can be changed without impacting negatively on the financial situation. I am sure that there are many, but this letter focuses on just three.

First, counter the current demonisation of our "immigrant" population and celebrate what they bring to us. Most immigrants to the UK are legal; the number of illegal immigrants is a minor proportion of the total. Many so-called immigrants are students, and traditionally their families, who are here to attend our universally-praised universities, universities which bring in millions of pounds through their fees. Most of these students will return to their home countries but they will have ties to the UK which in the long term will be beneficial. Many of the immigrants are doctors, nurses and other health workers. We restrict their entry to the UK at our own peril.

The next change with no cost, but with great financial and growth benefits, would be repairing our links with the EU and start working towards rejoining the single market. It seems that the majority of the UK population now realise they were conned into thinking that leaving the EU would be beneficial, so let’s start to reverse the situation. Also bring back freedom of movement. In days gone by UK students could work in the EU and EU citizens could come to this country. The benefits of such cultural exchange are inestimable. It is true that our students could travel to other countries in the world but to reduce ties to our nearest neighbour.

Third, and this is something that has been talked about for years but nothing has actually been done about it: turn the council tax into a more progressive tax. Can it really be right that the maximum tax band is the same for houses valued at £212,000 as for houses worth millions?

Making progress on these three issues would cost very little but would start to make significant changes to the UK. The current government has a huge majority and potentially five years in office. To make significant change it needs to start now, before it gets bogged down in the more mundane joys of running the country. In the meantime, be progressive and take some risks.

I realise that not everything I have said in this letter applies equally to Scotland and the rest of the UK (notably views on the immigration system), but how the Government operates in London affects all of us. Hopefully our much-increased Scottish Labour MP contingent can knock some sense into their colleagues in Westminster and deliver more rapid change than seems to be on the cards at present.

John Palfreyman, Coupar Angus.

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Content to be second-class

YOU report a large drop in SNP membership ("SNP member numbers dive to half of 2019 peak", The Herald, August 23). Although there is no direct correlation between membership and supporters of independence it is sad that we have so many people in Scotland content to be second-class citizens.

We have little say in how we are governed with the present system and so we are treated very badly by whichever of the two parties is in power. The latest situation with an increase in electricity prices which are the same across the country is another example. Scotland is colder than the south of England and it costs more to heat comparable houses. When I worked in London I got a London allowance because costs were higher. Should we not get cheaper electricity as our costs are higher? This increase on top of the change to winter fuel allowance will be a serious blow to many. A couple on £30,000 will definitely feel the double whammy.

The people of Scotland have been hammered by the English government for too long. I hope at the next Holyrood election the two main English parties will be rejected and a real movement towards freedom can be started.

Jim McAdam, Maidens.

• THE gloating response by the unionist press to the decline in membership of the Scottish National Party is disappointing. There has been a decline in membership of most political parties in recent years, and that is not good news in a functioning democracy. 
The figure for the SNP (64,500),  however, is more than all its rivals (in Scotland) combined by a factor of at least two. The last total for Scottish Labour I saw was 16,500 and for the Scottish Tories 7,500. Labour’s UK total of 370,450 (also a substantial decline) is about half of the per capita SNP membership, though corporate and mega-donor funding for London-based parties is substantially more than any Scottish party could dream of.
GR Weir, Ochiltree.

Someone has to rein in SNP

MOST people voting for the SNP seem not to support the party in their own right, but only as a means to independence, openly stating that once independence is achieved, they will vote for a different party. These people place their votes primarily based on what they believe will aid or threaten the independence cause.

Because of this, as long as Scotland remains in the UK, and as long as the SNP keeps appearing to prioritise and fight for independence, keeps appearing to be the only party with a chance of making this happen, and keeps stirring up widespread public longing for this, it can ride on the back of that blinding, single-minded public passion to make almost any other governing decisions it likes, causing almost any level of discomfort and disenfranchisement to the Scottish public. It knows it won’t risk losing these people’s votes. “We only have to bear up a short while until independence is achieved. Besides, this discomfort is tangible proof of Westminster’s neglect of Scotland, underscoring the Union’s harmfulness to us.”

Meanwhile, when it comes to current relations within the Union, it seems the SNP intends effectively to hold the Scottish people to ransom through its treatment of the public sector. “Look how these people are suffering, Westminster. Members of your Union and thus under your care. All because of your tight-fistedness. Give us more money, and the misery stops. Refuse, and we keep it up.” Yet it is the SNP which is in charge of where and how money circulating in Scotland is ultimately channelled.

The SNP is becoming subtly radicalised, on the back of an already radical proportion of totally tunnel-visioned independence voters. Regardless of democratic inclinations and the future of Scotland - both of which are separate matters - someone has to rein the party in and hold it to appropriate legal standards of representation, operation and service delivery, not in 2026, but now.

Laura Guthrie, Beauly.

SNP membership numbers have fallen significantlySNP membership numbers have fallen significantly (Image: PA)

Time to show some principles

I MUST disagree with Mark McGeoghegan ("Engaging with Israel makes sense", The Herald, August 23). Neither a devolved nor any future independent Scotland should have any sort of diplomatic relations or engagement with the current state of Israel.

It is an extreme right-wing regime running an apartheid state which has been in sustained breach of international law, multiple UN resolutions and is currently under investigation for genocide by the International Criminal Court. While all that pertains, we should not be meeting with their diplomats to explore how Scotland and Israel might mutually "enrich their cultural landscapes" - even if those meetings are book-ended by some (unreported) tut-tutting about the inhumane slaughter and destruction in Gaza.

The Scottish Government can and should develop its role in diplomacy and "soft influence" but needs to show selectivity and apply some principles to its choice of interlocutors. That too is part of mature political diplomacy.

Cathy Watkins, Edinburgh.

Let's look to Luxembourg

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with Rebecca McQuillan's sentiment that raising train fares is not the way to go ("Don't blame drivers - fix our trains", The Herald, 22 August). Free bus travel for the under-22s saw a considerable increase in passenger figures, and let's not forget the large numbers of my fellow over-60s that regularly use their National Entitlement Card.

In the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the national government went a massive step further in February 2020: since then, all modes of public transport - buses, trains and the tram - have been free of charge throughout the country with the only exception being first-class tickets on those relatively few trains that have such a service.

The resultant reduction in congestion in the larger towns and on the major arteries of the country has made getting around a lot easier, and there has been a reduction in air pollution, with nitrogen dioxide levels noticeably lower in 2023 than in previous years. From my time spent there I remember smog alerts and speed limits on major roads whenever the temperature reached its usual high 20s/low 30s in the summer months, but these now seem to be a thing of the past Perhaps our government(s) should consider a similar course, and drastically reduce public transport costs, if not making them completely free.

Alun Hotchkiss, Largs.