THE British Unionist Labour Party were hell-bent on imposing austerity from the get-go. We all knew it was going to be brutal and far-reaching. Labour flat-out lied when they promised no return to austerity, and now Rachel Reeves has confirmed it. This is going to cause major uproar and outrage.

Last week, they refused to lift the Tory de facto eugenics-inspired two-child limit for benefits.

Reeves is now slashing infrastructure projects all over the UK, guaranteeing that roads and railways will crumble into even worse shape. On top of that, pensioners are getting screwed out of their Winter Fuel Payments.

There were other options besides these cuts. Reeves could easily have undone the Tory tax cuts for big corporations. But no, instead Labour are throwing £3 billion at the corrupt regime in Kyiv for war, and that money is just lining the pockets of corrupt officials. And there is the £200bn for renewing Trident and the extra £75bn for the “defence” sector by 2030.

The biggest load of hogwash is calling these cuts “necessary”. This economic nonsense is as ridiculous as saying the Earth is flat. The UK Government, as the issuer of its currency, technically owes the debt to itself. The British Unionist Labour Party have always been all about war and empire. It is an integral part of the British state and has been since day one.

In 2014, the people of Scotland bought into a load of lies from the Westminster crowd and rejected independence. And now, those same people have rejected the truth-tellers for the liars behind the 2014 mess. And to add insult to injury, now the liars want to establish a wealth fund paid for by Scotland. It’s utterly ridiculous.

Since 1975, the English Treasury has raked in around three-quarters of a trillion pounds from the North Sea, and yet the Scottish people have fallen for it. It’s just plain sad and gullible.

Violence has turned into a directing principle in Britain, showing a social and political insanity driven by the greedy death manufacturers, the military-industrial-academic complex, fascist politics and a society that lauds violence as a wellspring of identity, pleasure and collective hatred.

When morality is abandoned, the social contract is null and void, and liberal ideology completely extinguishes itself. With power concentrated in the hands of a few and huge wealth inequality, along with historical amnesia and selective ignorance, the stage is set for a society marked by both sheer survival and the rise of a fascistic movement.

The movement towards the far-right will be birthed by Starmer/Reeves and the rest of the spineless cowards on the Labour benches. They will do the unquestioning bidding of the corrupt super-rich.

Alan Hinnrichs

Dundee

CHILDREN going hungry and pensioners freezing! Welcome to the UK under Labour’s policies. If the Chancellor couldn’t understand and interpret the information from the Office of Budget Responsibility before coming into office, that doesn’t augur well for her financial prowess, does it?

Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies said “the state of public finances was apparent pre-election to anyone who cared to look”. So if Rachel Reeves and her boss chose to ignore the black-hole financial information (even the SNP called that one right!) then Labour were economical with the truth during their campaigning. Labour, lying again? Never!

Just watch my lips, Mr Sarwar, no tax increases possibly for the time being, but it’s now austerity, Labour-style.

At this crucial time, we continue to have a logjam in what passes as the pro-indy movement, with suggestions and counter suggestions coming from activists and politicians as to what to do, when and how.

Surely it’s time to take stock, to be sufficiently pragmatic to accept that whatever we’ve been doing since 2014 hasn’t brought about independence? Political parties and their leaderships have failed.

So how do we break the logjam, political and civic? Politically, the parties and their members will have to work on that. Since I’m a voter, come talk with me, woo me with your policies, your plans, your vision and strategy for the future.

But make sure independence is front and centre.

As an activist, I know there’s no point in re-inventing bubble groups, talking the talk to the already converted. I’ll take Believe in Scotland’s idea of a Scottish-wide convention in the short term. But I’m not too sure how it will drive political change as it’s currently laid out.

Ireland’s Convention on the Constitution was established in 2012 specifically to discuss proposed amendments to the Constitution of Ireland. It did succeed. One real change most of us will remember was the amendment permitting gay marriage.

Iceland didn’t sink after the financial crisis, and between 2008-11 the people agitated with their Pots and Pans Revolution, changed government,set up a national forum followed by a constitutional council to identify and agree required political change. Result? A new constitution.

Neither Ireland nor Iceland were too wee or too feart to recognise the need for political change and it’s time we did. Why can’t we?

Selma Rahman

Edinburgh

I WAS interested and heartened to read Colin Fox’s timely piece yesterday on the urgent need for a national care service.

As a “Baby Boomer” and now an OAP. I have a personal interest in the state of elderly care in Scotland. And as one who has worked in the care sector, I can vouch for the claim that our current model is unfit for purpose.

The thought of entering even one of the “better” care homes is not a pleasant one for me and the idea of being in a home such as I worked in is distressing.

This is by no means a criticism of the staff in such places – who are overwhelmingly hard-working and caring – but rather of the lack of funding dedicated to elderly care.

Just as the Scottish Socialist Party pioneered the abolition of prescription charges in Scotland, so are they now leading the movement for a national care service, publicly funded and free at the point of need – and supported by 69% of people in Scotland.

The initial cost of setting up a National Care Service may be daunting but the same went for the NHS in 1948.

It is a fine thing that The National is bringing the SSP’s initiative on this pressing issue to a wider audience. If Scotland is to achieve independence, this the kind of policy that will strengthen our case.

Michael Davidson

Edinburgh