I WISH I could agree with Andrew Learmonth when he says our parliament “can only, surely, get better” (“Infuriating, frequently dull and a bit stupid ...
yet Holyrood reigns supreme”, September 29). What we had at the outset of the Scottish Parliament 25 years ago was hope for decisions in devolved areas to be made in Scotland and for local communities to be able to make decisions that worked best for them. This is not what we have had for the last 17 years.
More and more powers have been centralised by the SNP and power taken away from local authorities and communities. How many of us have been forced to endure the sight of wind turbines in rural communities because of decisions made by a person sitting behind a desk in Edinburgh? How many of us no longer get decent local authority services that we desire because the SNP at Holyrood decided to freeze council tax? Devolution works both ways but that’s not what the SNP wants. Gordon McDonald from Buckie who was quoted as saying “We can actually start making decisions for ourselves, rather than getting things imposed on us” is clearly choosing to ignore the damage done by the party he once represented.
He does a lot of great work in Buckie but he should acknowledge as an ex-SNP councillor that many decisions at Holyrood impact negatively on the people he is helping in Moray. A council tax freeze does not help with the provision of education , social care or local authority housing. Until we have people at Holyrood.
