Why the fuss about Stephen Flynn? There is nothing to see here

In this particular case, I quite simply do not understand the outrage. An MP is contacted by a firm in his constituency. He writes a note asking for Scottish Government officials, at a parliament he doesn’t work in, with officials he doesn’t work with, to take a look. He doesn’t ask for a detailed response for himself, he says in the text that this is only “if appropriate”.

MPs are supposed to represent people and they are supposed to listen to businesses in their constituency, aren’t they?

Subsequently, a private citizen donates money to the branch to which the MP is attached. Not the company, not directly to the politician.

I understand why people don’t like this and Neil Mackay may well be right that it is unedifying, but would the Scottish people really prefer to stump up £30,000 to run election campaigns out of our taxes?

If the suggestion was that Mr Flynn would not listen to, or meet with, either Green Volt or donor Allan MacAskill without the £30k, then that would be unconscionable corruption.

I would even be uncomfortable with Mr Flynn receiving gifts of glasses, suits or holidays at Mr MacAskill’s, or his company’s, expense.

But, I’m sorry, this is nothing more than pointless, political rhetoric dragging everyone down till the electorate see it as “they’re all the same”.

They are not all the same, and despite Mackay’s bile ducts, there is nothing to see here.

Peter Newman, Edderton.

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Any MSP would do the same

ANY MSP worth their salt would do what they could to promote a large business development in their area and there is a massive difference between a subsequent openly-reported donation going to their local political party compared to personal donations to an MP or in the case this week of a director being appointed to the board of HMRC without any advertisement at £20,000 a year for one day a month after his company made a £100,000 donation to Labour.

Similarly, accepting and declaring tickets for the odd sporting event, which is also commonplace in the business world, is hardly in the same league as Keir Starmer’s £100,000 worth of “freebies” or the Labour education minister accepting £14,000 towards her 40th birthday party.

Labour manipulated the Electoral Commission regulations in order that the £4 million donation from Quadrature Capital, a Cayman Islands-based hedge fund, would not be reported until after the General Election. Now Rachel Kyte, who sits on the advisory board of an associated company, has been appointed the UK’s climate envoy.

This week, The Financial Times revealed that Jim Murphy’s lobbying firm Arden Strategies had held numerous Labour dinners, receptions and other fundraising events costing thousands of pounds, sometimes tens of thousands, to all sorts of interest groups seeking to influence the potential government but these engagements did not require a disclosure to the UK’s lobbying watchdog as the rules do not cover opposition MPs or the shadow cabinet.

Keir Starmer’s new Machiavellian senior adviser Morgan McSweeney, who ran Labour Together, failed to declare £730,000 in donations from a slew of millionaire businessmen, misreported and under-reported other payments, and falsely assured supportive MPs that electoral law was being followed.

During the last Scottish Parliament elections, numerous anti-independence groupings were exposed for channelling “dark money” in an attempt to influence the result. This shows that the regulations surrounding lobbying and funding by pressure groups must be tightened up and any arm’s-length donation of £1,000 or more must be reported timeously. Also, no donations, benefits in kind or other funding from outside Scotland should be allowed within the 12 months prior to any Scottish election and it’s not too late for the Electoral Commission to act.

Fraser Grant, Edinburgh.

SNP secrecy has to stop

AT times over the years, it has felt like every little bit of information, every tiny scrap, regarding how Scotland is run, has to be wrenched from the hands of the SNP. Has there ever been an administration anywhere as secretive as that of the SNP? More than secretive, it has been downright obstructive in preventing the people who pay for the whole set-up in which it operates gaining information about matters that they finance. These are matters to which they should be given immediate access.

All this is verified by the entirely independent watchdog that investigates these matters. It has made a surely justified attack on the SNP administration, appearing to be losing patience with the administration in regard to a three-year legal battle in connection with freedom of information requests concerning former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (" Independent watchdog on attack over Salmond case", The Herald October 8). With good reason surely, some neutral observers could be forgiven for suspecting something is being hidden from the public and perhaps hopefully shelved until after the next Holyrood election in 2026 Who could argue with David Hamilton, the entirely independent Scottish Information Commissioner? He says appeals by the SNP against his rulings had "significantly delayed and frustrated" the "right to access information" and "cost Scottish public finances tens of thousands of pounds of money and hundreds of hours of staff time on what was ultimately shown to be a weak legal argument".

This, surely, has to stop.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh.

Thatcher's party no longer exists

THE Conservative Party is diminished because it has abandoned the middle ground of UK public life. It’s going to diminish further unless it finds its way back.

The lurch to the toxic right has very little to do with any gravitational pull from the policy-free and meaningless Reform Party, but is closely linked to the ascendancy of anti-European Conservative Party members.

They weren’t always calling the shots but they were always trying to. Whole ward committees declined to do any work for European elections.

Far right MPs sabotaged Sir John Major in office as Prime Minister.

They’ve got what they worked for: opposition dwindling to the point of vanishing.

The party of Sir Harold MacMillan and Margaret Thatcher does not now exist.

Tim Cox, Bern, Switzerland.

Margaret Thactcher (Image: PA)

Let's learn from Scandinavia

IT was very pleasing to read the positive articles about Denmark and Sweden ("Happy, pleasant, friendly Denmark: like returning to Glasgow from Edinburgh", Carlos Alba, The Herald, October 9, and "Welcome to Malmö, the city I loved so much I’m moving in", Kerry Hudson, The Herald, October 9). Congratulations to both writers.

In the early 1960s I spent a summer at the Findus International Student Camp in Bjuv, South Sweden. It was near Halsingborg so it was easy to travel to Copenhagen, Denmark. In Sweden I was instantly struck by how prosperous it was and how few signs of poverty there were.

Denmark I loved instantly and was impressed by the warmth and simplicity of the people.

What has become very apparent to many of us is how the behaviour and policies of governments impact on populations.

It seems to me that 14 years of very negative Conservative governments in the UK with their anti-immigrant, anti-welfare rights rhetoric has greatly coarsened many aspects of life today. The reports of Scandinavian high taxes which support good public services ensure that their populations benefit by having a more secure, contented way of life.

Unhappy and financially insecure populations suffer from issues of mental health which we know in the UK has reached very high levels in all age groups. Recent Herald correspondence about rising violence in schools against teachers speaks of fragmentation and disengagement in society.

It was Margaret Thatcher who famously said in 1987 "there is no such thing as society".

It is always valuable to learn lessons from others and I, I suspect like many people, would be happy to learn from Scandinavia and to pay higher taxes if they secured better-funded and more reliable public services.

Maggie Chetty, Glasgow.