Action post haste

Derrick McClure (Letters,  20 September) provides us with yet another piece of Nationalist mythology. Far from meekly obeying Margaret Thatcher, I remember with pride how Strathclyde Regional Council provided free school meals for the children during the miners’ strike, and got up her nose so much that she abolished this major local authority. Glasgow District Council, of which I was a member, organised collections for the miners at all their public desks, and we also joined in with other Labour-controlled councils across Britain to campaign against the cuts.

The poll tax finally ended when Tory MPs realised they would lose their seats if they did not dump Mrs Thatcher. They had mistakenly thought it would prove popular with their voters in Scotland.

When it was imposed on Scotland first, that was not the end of the battle. To get rid of it, the campaign had to continue. So as to alert people in England and Wales to what was coming, Labour councillors and MPs played their part, but I don’t remember ever hearing of any Scottish Nationalist MP getting out of Westminster into the parts of Britain that fell outside Scotland. Naturally not, because as they make crystal clear, they are only interested in Scotland.

And this, of course, is a prime example of why the nations of the UK are better together. The campaigning worked because plenty of others, Labour and of other persuasions, got the message over. Even in the Cotswolds, as I witnessed when I spoke to a public meeting, they were up in arms about the poll tax.

Even Tories down south are up in arms about privatising the Royal Mail. I suggest we work with anyone and everyone to try to stop this, rather than daydreaming about what a Scottish independent government will do – if it ever comes to pass.

Maria Fyfe

Ascot Avenue

Glasgow