The Scottish Budget: An open letter to COSLA and the Scottish Government

Dear Alison Evison and Nicola Sturgeon,

Time to take the fight to the UK Government, the true source of the “unprecedented
strain” [1] on finances.
In recent months we have seen £170m wasted with PestFix on PPE that did not
work [2], a jewellery designer receiving a £250m contract to provide health
equipment, and the £550,000 consulting deal with Public First, a company with close
ties to Whitehall [3]
£17bn of contracts issued with a lack of transparency and riddled with potential
conflict of interest [3]; this is the true cause of “increases in the inequalities” [1].
If this is not enough, consider the £205bn earmarked for the Trident missile
replacement project [4], a weapons system now made illegal by UN treaty [5], the
curious contribution to carbon neutrality of £61bn for a 3 rd runway at Heathrow [6],
and the £138bn [7] planned for the ecological disaster called HS2 [8].
There is enough money, it is simply being spent on the wrong things and going into
the wrong hands.
With the disaster of Brexit and their incompetence over Covid the UK government
are deeply unpopular [9], and their constant U-turns are adding to that day by day.
They could go at a push and we are pushing, why not stand up and join us?

Yours sincerely
on behalf of Another Glasgow Is Possible
on behalf of Another Edinburgh Is Possible
References
1) Scottish councils 'on their knees' amid £767m pandemic bill, Herald, 2021.
2) Pest control firm forced to recall faulty face masks after netting £170 million PPE
contract, The London Economic, 2020.
3) Watchdog criticises government over awarding of £17bn Covid contracts, Financial
Times, 2020.
4) £205 billion: the cost of Trident, CND, 2021.
5) Treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons, UN, 2021.
6) Heathrow urged to ‘come clean’ on third runway costs, Travel Weekly, 2019.
7) Cost of UK’s HS2 rail project soars…again, KHL, 2020.
8) High Speed Rail (HS2) - stop and rethink!, The Wildlife Trusts, 2021.
9) Boris Johnson would lose majority and seat in election tomorrow, The
Guardian, 2021.