Sir, – Recent issues at both national and local levels make me think that politicians, once elected, rapidly lose touch with those who elected them and concern themselves instead with each other and party issues.
At the national level, partygate and Tory advice that the poor should be able to get their way out of the cost of living crisis by learning to cook shows the distance between the politicians and the punters.
Closer to home, the jockeying for position in both shire and city councils by the king maker Lib Dem councillors in each who, holding a balance of power, have chosen to ally with the SNP in the city and the Tories in the shire, again shows the gap between the politicians and the rest of us.
I’m not surprised that voter turnout at these council elections was less than 50% of those eligible and suspect that a growing awareness that politicians are more interested in party politics than the duty of representation is a factor that will, in the long run, further erode voter participation in local democracy.
I don’t think a heavy reliance on party politics at local council level helps – it’s the role of politicians at Westminster and Holyrood to create policy and legislation and for local councils to provide the management and delivery of services like roads, schools, social work and waste disposal. None of that seems to me to require political affiliation of one brand or another to achieve and might best be undertaken by those with a strong interest in, and knowledge of, how local service users and communities experience such services more than people with adherence to policies developed in Edinburgh or London.
What I have seen since the most recent elections is that as soon as they are elected, councillors look to maximise the power they (or their party) hold and concentrate on what they need to do to achieve that within the council.
This shows in the formation of alliances with other party groups and the jockeying for position over what are perceived as the higher-status, more powerful and better-paid positions on the council. As far as I can see these deals have been done before any statements have been given to the electorate about the terms and conditions over which they were made. The politicking seems to trump representation.
In both city and shire Lib Dems have been able to punch above their weight by giving allegiance to the SNP in the former and to Tories in the latter. I can see that in the city they had campaigned on the need to break the previous bizarre partnership of the Tory and Labour administration, but those in the shire either kept their pre-election affection for the Tories well under wraps or, with supine opportunism, did a deal based on what the largest party was prepared to offer them at the time. The advancement of Liberal councillors here is clear but the role of Liberal ideals is harder to discern – nationalist in the city and unionist in the shire?
Seems a tad chameleon-like to me. It would be good to know what they see as the big issues and where they stand on them.
The shire deal mirrors the Cameron coalition government where Liberals holding on to Tory coat-tails resulted in inter alia a total reversal of Lib Dem policy on student fees which remains a millstone round their necks to this day.
The wider question is to what extent do our local politicians, once elected, represent what we thought we voted them in for, or do they simply claim that assent to pursue agendas determined elsewhere by others?
Colin Keenan, Cowieson Crescent, Pitmedden.
GPs on track for a change of career
Sir, – In recent times we have had GPs complaining about stress and the hours they are required to work since the onset of the Covid virus.
Many have left the profession and others have taken up lucrative positions overseas.
In certain areas patients have had to wait up to four weeks for a telephone appointment.
On the other hand it has been stated that a doctor on qualifying starts on a salary of approximately £40,000 a year, obviously progressing as circumstances and experience dictate to a higher position in the medical hierarchy.
We also have a considerable shortage of train drivers currently managed by ScotRail where, on completion of training, drivers can earn £50,000 a year, plus overtime, substantial pension and considerable perks. This in a job which, with current safe procedures in place, requires responsibility for passengers’ safety, but does not require face-to-face meetings, video and telephone conversations plus call-outs, and any out-of-hours contact with passengers.
Consequently, there is a classic opportunity for our hard-pressed GPs to switch careers for less stress and better hours and remuneration with a job which offers far better conditions, a union representative who earns approximately £150,000 a year, and knowing that their working conditions are in good hands.
John Reid, Regent Court, Keith.
More on our minds than historic spat
Sir, – Having read the recent article which is obviously a spat between two former colleagues from more than three years ago (ex-councillor versus current convener Moray Council), the public is more interested in today’s living problems.
The war in Ukraine which could very soon become a war in Europe, the threat from China and the massive rises in the cost of living caused by both of those issues, are at the top of everyone’s mind at the moment, not historic schoolyard fights.
I and others think the media should look at itself and see where it can help the public get through these serious times.
If the media is interested in local and even national government then they may care to take a closer look and report on current complaints against current elected politicians and council officials who ignore the general public and community councils.
James A Mackie, South Road, Garmouth, Moray.
Wealth imbalance needs to be tackled
Sir, – I take issue with David Philip’s comments (Letters, May 26). He correctly tells us that “services” are in positive territory in regard to UK exports. Those are, in the main, financial services, heavily impacted now by Brexit in that no passporting rights have been obtained EU-wide. In regard to actual goods, England’s track record is very poor, Scotland the converse.
He then goes on to discuss debt levels. While no part of the UK has a good record in that field, at least Scotland has only liability for 9% of the almost-£3 trillion “fiscal imbalance” of the UK, which will rise significantly further given the circumstances we find ourselves in when the full costs of Covid and Brexit hit home.
I would, respectfully, remind him that Holyrood had to balance the books, while Westminster does not. In recent times, the unionist parties have shown scant regard to fiscal prudence.
Let’s take Aberdeen City Council, whose current debt level stands at £1,240,215,520.58, interest payments on that figure being £36,433,296.57 for the last fiscal year alone.
Those dire figures were accrued by unionist politicians, the mess being left to the incoming SNP administration to sort out.
While no one says independence would be the be all and end all, I am sure we could do better than the present UK regime.
At the end of the day, Scotland is a very wealthy country, but that wealth is being retained by a small number to the detriment of the majority.
Ron Campbell, Richmond Walk, Aberdeen.