Time Labour came up with humane policies on immigration

First, it is important to note that this year just over 30,000 people have come to the UK via small boats. This figure compares to statistics compiled by the United Nations which indicate that there are almost 118 million internally displaced people in the world today, through factors such as political violence, climate change and poverty.

I think it might be time for Labour to develop some sensible and humane policies around immigration and asylum issues.

A good start would be to follow the advice of the Refugee Council and develop more safe routes for people to come to the UK and claim refugee or asylum status.

This sensible and compassionate approach would require investment in staff and resources to assess claims in a fair manner and within a reasonable timescale. This would a real alternative to the Tories' spiteful Rwanda policy.

Arthur West, Irvine.

We cannot be inward-looking

BEING selective with the facts has become a part of modern discourse and seems to be an essential skill for too many of your letter writers. However I’m sure the practice is not new and has fuelled plenty of futile arguments in the past. This is hardly surprising since the English language is filled with so many common phrases where the sting in the tail of the original has been conveniently left out.

“Charity begins at home” as used by Alexander McKay (Letters, November 5) is a good example. Although existing in one form or another for centuries it was apparently popularised by the 17th century clergyman Thomas Fuller, whose full text read “Charity begins at home, but should not end there.” In a world where political unrest and natural disasters abroad can lead to empty supermarket shelves at home or refugees queueing up to enter the country in any way they can, we simply cannot afford to be so inward-looking.

Robin Irvine, Helensburgh.

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Brexit still doing huge damage

AFTER any Budget, it often takes a number of days before the dust settles and the full implications become clear. The devil, as they say, is always in the detail.

The revelation from the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Tulip Siddiq, that 60 per cent of the impact of Brexit is yet to materialise is just one of these, with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasting that the economy will shrink in the long run due to the UK leaving the EU.

It also noted that Britain’s imports and export will end up 15 per cent lower than they would be had the UK stayed in the EU.

Back in 2022, the Centre for European Reform compared the UK to similar economies and assessed that Brexit meant a loss of tax revenues of £40 billion. In the last week the Chancellor has increased tax by £40 billion, the biggest rise in decades, impacting businesses already in many cases deeply affected by Brexit.

Earlier this year, a report commissioned by the Labour mayor of London and using Treasury analysis concluded that the UK was already £140bn worse off due to Brexit and would be £311bn worse off over the next decade.

On top of that, the exit bill to leave the European Union is still costing taxpayers. The UK has paid £24 billion to leave, so far, with billions more still to pay to settle the UK’s obligations.

Brexit it appears is an issue that dare not speak its name, and yet the impact on our public finances of this profound act of economic self-harm significantly outweighs any other aspects of the Budget.

Alex Orr, Edinburgh.

Why no ferries to Europe?

IRELAND is expanding its ferry service to France from Rosslare to Cherbourg from two to five return sailings per week and has10 ferry routes connecting it to France, the UK, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands.

Why doesn’t Scotland have any ferries to Europe? We used to have regular sailings to Norway and Belgium. Reinstating a ferry service would alleviate the Brexit hammer blow dealt to Scottish exports and revitalise tourism.

It’s because our ports, once owned by the burghs, were sold off to offshore private equity funds under the Tories. These guys aren’t interested in investing in Scotland’s underdeveloped Victorian era ports to attract international shipping, but only want to extract profits for their shareholders. And the two so-called freeports, at the Firth of Forth and Inverness and Cromarty Firth, are additional roadblocks erected by Westminster with Holyrood’s connivance to thwart Scotland’s development and steal its resources.

When an EU member, the UK withheld financial support for international shipping despite the EU programme, Motorway of the Sea, that would have subsidised it. More recently, plans to link Rosyth and Dunkirk were abandoned because Westminster wouldn’t provide any money.

It’s outrageous that Scotland, surrounded by seas, has no maritime strategy, just as it’s outrageous that the UK is openly stealing our renewable energy resources and leaving Scots in the cold. The Scottish administration - it isn’t a government - needs to grow a spine and stand up for Scotland. It could start by enacting the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) into Scots law, which would give the Scottish people the political rights to exercise their sovereignty and the power to end the union.

Leah Gunn Barrett, Edinburgh.

Give tax relief for social care

IN the context of your headline “Almost 6,000 Scots waiting for social care assessments” (The Herald, November 4), and the proposed introduction of 40 per cent inheritance on private pension plans, it might make this tax charge more palatable if tax exemption was applicable to certain, defined withdrawals from such plans: for example, provided withdrawals were being deployed to fund private social care needs/packages, thus alleviating numbers on waiting lists as well as helping to accelerate the necessary care to all in need.

Currently, all withdrawals are liable for income tax at the highest marginal rate.

Jon Cossar, Edinburgh.

Volatility of wind supply

TODAY (November 5) a report commissioned by Labour Energy Minister Ed Miliband told us we need to build 1,000 kilometres of pylons and 4,800km of undersea cable at a cost of £40bn a year by 2030 to deliver wind-generated electricity to consumers.

That same day Gridwatch, the National Grid's real-time display of UK energy consumption and source of supply, showed that out of a demand of 37GW of electricity only 0.86GW (2%) came from wind. The bulk came from gas (60%) and nuclear (13%). The UK's wind producing capacity is 30GW.

What other industry could survive with such volatile production statistics?

Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven.

Open debate is healthy (Image: PA)

Freedom of speech works both ways

I AM very glad that Tim Hopkins (Letters, November 5) will be able to speak up for what he believes. He spoke out in times past when his views did not resonate with a lot of society. Hopefully he understands those who have differing points of view.

As we near Remembrance Day I was reminded of a debate between myself and a church elder at a book stall which we were manning in the 1980s. I was disposing of a few donated books which I felt were unsuitable for promotion at a church event. Later this elder went home and came to our door wearing his medals and told me as he pointed to his medals that he had fought in the war for freedom of speech and that meant not censoring any books at the bookstall. We both shared our point of view. We both did not budge from our points of view. We both understood each other’s stance. Neither of us was offended by the other and neither said to the other that they have no right to even express that viewpoint. Our relationship did not deteriorate because of that.

No doubt in the past people LGB people were harmed and lost jobs for their views, the armed forces being a notable case. In our day, those who dare to express their view that they cannot see how a biological man can be a woman are being harmed and losing their jobs. That church elder if alive today he would most likely have agreed with Tim Hopkins' stance but I like to think that he would have supported Jenny Lindsay to be free to declare biological truths. For freedom of speech, he would have fought for the rights of both. At this time, we must not devalue the lives of those who fought and died so we have the right to declare our points of view without being harmed or cancelled. Being cancelled is the mark of dictatorship and we should all rally against that, lest especially at this time of year we forget those who did.

Irene Munro, Conon Bridge.