A letter to Viceroy Murray

Dear Mr. Murray,

Congratulations on becoming Scotland’s latest Viceroy, an ambition you’ve long held.

What will you do with your new power? If the English Labour election leaflets shoved through my door are any guide, you and your boss, Sir Keir, will:

·      Deliver economic stability
This is meaningless. A stagnating economy can be stable. Given that you’re not going to make the investments people are crying out for, this is all you’re offering.

·      Cut NHS waiting times
Are you unaware that Scotland’s A&E, ambulance and cancer waiting times are lower than England or Labour-controlled Wales? Wes Streeting’s cunning plan is to rope in the private sector and expand the disastrous PFI schemes that have burdened Scotland with a £30 billion debt.

·      Set up GB Energy
This is another scam to swindle the Scottish People. It won’t generate any energy and won’t create thousands of Scottish jobs or lower energy bills. It’s jobs for London bankers not Scottish engineers. It will flog more of Scotland’s renewables to private companies who’ll pocket their profits in offshore accounts.

·      Make work pay
For whom? Your boss refused to cap bankers’ bonuses and quadrupled the use of private consultants. He forbade his frontbench from joining picket lines and won’t support public sector wage increases in line with inflation.

·      Create jobs and opportunities for young people
Your boss reneged on a pledge to abolish university tuition fees (there are none in Scotland); he backtracked on a pledge to ban zero-hour contracts; and he argued that the occupier Israel had the right to “defend itself” by shutting off water, food, and electricity to Gazans, and has refused to condemn Israel for murdering and starving up to 186,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.  

·      Maximise Scotland’s influence
With whom? Certainly not with Westminster, where 57 Scottish MPs are outnumbered by 543 English MPs. When Scotland got a chance to speak on Opposition Day, Sir Keir colluded by with slimy Sir Lindsay Hoyle to undermine us.  
Instead, your boss will remove the minimal powers Sir Tony Blair reluctantly devolved to Scotland 25 years ago and hand them to you, Viceroy Murray.   

Your party has endlessly intoned the words ‘growth’ and ‘change,’ not explaining growth of what or change to what.

Rachel ‘there’s no money’ Reeves plans to sit back and let the private sector ‘grow’ the economy when that’s never worked. The only things that will grow are inequality, ill health, poverty, environmental degradation and injustice.

The ‘change’ you’re promising is a deceit. Like the Tories, English Labour is neoliberal to its core.

Finally, I believe you plan to take the oath of allegiance on July 9th to the English King, who has himself refused to take the Scottish oath of allegiance to the Scottish People. In doing so, you will be betraying the People to whom you really owe allegiance.

As your constituent, I ask that you refuse to swear allegiance to England’s King, Charles III. If you decide to take the oath, I would appreciate receiving a written explanation of why you believe you owe allegiance to a foreign nation over your own.

Yours sincerely,

Leah Gunn Barrett