AS we all face further increases to our fuel bills, I wonder who within the Cabinet at Westminster visited their local food bank, had to take stock before cooking a meal or found themselves hesitating before turning the heating on. Perhaps members of the Westminster Cabinet could spare a thought for those in their constituencies who did visit their local food bank at the weekend and who were sitting home cold and worried.

The economic crisis the country is enduring has not just come about in the last week, it has been ongoing for many years as a result of complete mismanagement of the economy of the country by consecutive Conservative governments over the last decade. The Conservatives claim to be the party for home owners, yet due to their economic mismanagement the number of mortgage lenders withdrawing mortgage deals over the last seven days is breathtaking and will have a huge knock-on effect to the housing sector.

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Perhaps another question for members of the Cabinet is “do you have a secure roof over your head tonight?” Perhaps a good time to highlight that it was under the Conservative government some 40 years ago (1981) that we saw the highest mortgage rate in history at 18.63%! So, are we heading to those disastrous times again under a Conservative government? The country and parliament demanded change from the corrupt and inept government of Boris Johnson, and after less than a month of the new PM and Cabinet the country is close to economic collapse, being bailed out by the banks, being warned by the IMF – you seriously could not make this up.

So where do we go from here, what could possibly be round the corner? Well it may be pertinent to consider that Scotland has not voted Conservative in well over half a century, speaking volumes considering the current crisis and begging the question, can we go on like this much longer?

Ms Truss and her government, along with the economic crisis she is governing over, are certainly playing their part in breaking up the Union, a union Scotland cannot afford to be part of any longer. Scotland’s only chance of economic survival will only be possible when the purse strings are no longer pulled by the inept, corrupt and immoral union that is Westminster.

Catriona C Clark
Falkirk

LIZ Truss is a snake-oil sales-woman. She is cutting taxes for the wealthiest 1%. The propaganda is that by giving the super-rich more money, this will somehow trickle down to the rest of the population and grow the economy.

This course of action cannot and will not work. History is absolutely clear on this. In the 1920s, US President Warren Harding dropped the top marginal rate of income tax from 73% to 25%. This caused the market crash of 1929 and the great depression. Reagan and Thatcher came to power promising to cut the top rate of tax. These caused another stock market crash in 1987 and two recessions in the UK. George W Bush cut taxes for the very rich in 2001. The consequence of this was the 2008 crash.

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The super-wealthy object to having to give up a portion of their wealth in taxation. So they use their wealth in order to get politicians in the Tory party to cut their taxes all at the expense of everyone else.

The rich then use the money they have had in tax cuts to lend to the government. This covers the deficit that those tax cuts have created. The rich creditors then get these loans back with interest. In effect what would have become a tax has become an investment opportunity.

The 1% have advanced this notation through bought-and-paid-for shills in dubious far-right “think-tanks” whose funding is secret. These charlatans then go on TV and in print to pretend that tax cuts for billionaires are for the “benefit” of everyone.

If corporate taxes are high then corporations actually invest in their business in order to write that investment off as tax-deductible. Lowering corporate tax rates has meant research and development has moved offshore.

Giving the richest 1% a raise in their income takes decisions about spending out of the hands of the government and into the hands of the oligarchs.

The UK economy is already in recession and may be headed for a depression. The worst effects are yet to come as working people will lose their homes and pensions, all to pay for the obscene fortunes of Tory-donating fat cats.

Alan Hinnrichs
Dundee

I ENJOYED reading Alistair Ballantyne’s letter concerning a non-SNP but independence-supporting voter (Letters, Oct 1).

The question posed about who to vote for post-independence is one I have pondered myself in the past. Given all but the SNP and Greens are vehemently opposed to Scotland becoming an independent country, how on earth would they survive when that becomes the situation for Scotland?

Would the Tory MSPs just shut up shop and move south, leaving their constituencies dangling?Would the Labour MSPs remain, but realise the need to change heart and become the “Workers’ Party”, so hanging on to their supporters for the time being? And then there is the Liberal party. Well, they might decide to shut up shop anyway.

If the current opposition parties wish to retain their opposition within the Holyrood parliament (outwith the slightest chance of being in government), they would have to accept the status quo and realise that their voting supporters, who also reside in an independent country, are their bread and butter.

Unless of course they have all reserved business partnerships made during their tax-paid-for employment as MSPs.

Alan Magnus-Bennett
Fife