I WOULD like to add my support to Kenny Wright (Letters, April 20) and his backing for Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp’s recent article regarding a Scottish national retail bank (Time for Scotland to have a national retail bank? April 19).
In my non-economist-trained view, now is the perfect time to go ahead with such a project.
With the Royal Bank of Scotland looking to close a significant number of branches we have, in effect, the perfect opportunity to take over these branches. I believe the Scottish Government should be looking at taking over these closure-threatened branches now and retaining all the staff affected whilst renaming the branches as Scottish National Retail Banks.
I know to do this is not as simple as a mere name change and a great deal of work would be required behind the scenes. I do believe, however, that taking over these branches would save jobs and community banking resources. Furthermore, all of the behind-the-scenes banking operations could be continued whilst being paid for by the Royal Bank. After all, RBS appears to be all about money-saving exercises these days, and by taking over the closure-threatened banks a significant amount of money saving is acquired by RBS. The only ongoing financial outlay they would have would be the operation and maintenance of the computer systems. Surely even RBS would see this a a win-win for them. I’m pretty sure their employees and local communities and businesses affected by their bank closures would!
As for a headquarters for the new Scottish National Retail Bank, I believe there are a few ex-bank buildings in Edinburgh, one of which I’m certain could be “acquired” for £1 by the Scottish Government in order to set up the necessary SNRB HQ, in a similar manner to how Prestwick came under Scottish Government ownership.
I believe, like Kenny Wright does, that a significant number of independence supporters would look to transfer their current bank accounts to this new Scottish bank and support it as it grows over time. More importantly, I firmly believe that those communities currently under threat of losing their local RBS branch would be more than happy to transfer their accounts to the new bank, which would undoubtedly be a win-win for the local communities concerned.
Lesley-Anne McLelland
Eastriggs
CONGRATULATIONS to Patrick Harvie on his very timely and thought-provoking article (Maybe it is time former colonies cast off last of shackles, April 20), but to blame the present generation for the acts of their forebears is not reasonable and unlikely to assist the change which he desires. To live off the ill-gotten gains from the colonial era is quite a different matter.
I would suggest that the Head of the Commonwealth should be elected to serve for a fixed period of time. It may be that the Prince of Wales would be the choice of the member states and if so, his status would be greatly enhanced.
Another interesting aspect is that in the Commonwealth Games, Scotland successfully participates as a nation and yet it is the UK Prime Minister who represents Scotland at the leaders’ summit – why? Another legacy of colonialism which is now out dated.
Thomas L Inglis
Fintry
ONCE again Lesley Riddoch writes an interesting and thought-provoking article on reindustrialising Scotland (Let’s make things again in Scotland, April 19). Where I would disagree with Lesley is that Scotland should be remanufacturing rather than manufacturing. We are a nation with a great history of engineering, and given our human and natural resources there is no reason why Scotland cannot be a world leader in the circular economy.
Resources are becoming scarcer and we need to develop more sustainable business models. You only need to look at the Liberty Group that took over the Dalzell steel plant, which is using recycled steel to make high-quality steel. This product can compete on the global market as much of the steel produced abroad is of a lower grade.
We cannot continue to make products that have a limited lifespan and look to build our economy on a linear economic model. Our European neighbours are working to develop a circular economy across the EU. McKinsey estimates that this will be worth £1. 8 trillion by 2030. Scotland has a number of industries where the circular economy can be used to maximise the economic return. The fastest-growing firms are those that are adopting this model. Industry, government and communities can work together we can develop a more sustainable and resilient economy, but it requires a radical shift from businesses and consumers.
Robin Hall
Aberdeen
LONG before the Cambridge Analytica broohaha, that company approached the SNP offering its services. The SNP rejected them, suspecting that the company was dodgy. Simple enough, you would have thought? Enter Rooth the Mooth at FMQs yesterday with 11 minutes of opposition questions and comments about that non-story – their full quota. Is this really a good use of Holyrood’s time?
Peter Barjonas
Latheronwheel
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