Letter: Decision makers keep their distance

Sir: Might I add to Andrew Marr's article on the spirit of Scottish devolution (15 December), that one of the main reasons for wanting self-government is that Scotland is already distanced from the decision-makers in Westminster. Consider two examples:

First, the roads. Nearly every city in England is connected to London by motorways, yet the capital of Scotland has only A-roads and delayed plans for (partial) dual carriageways to link it to England: the physical link is not deemed important by 'central' government.

Second, the poll tax. This was introduced a year early in Scotland as an experiment. It failed - yet this failure was either dismissed or ignored: the guinea-pigs suffered in vain.

There is much rhetoric used about the historic links between Scotland and England; the problem is that these are now intangible, while Westminster's lack of interest in Scotland is not.

Yours faithfully,

G. M. BLAIR

Edinburgh

16 December