YP Letters: Downside to devolution for people of Scotland

ROBERT Craig should do more homework before proposing the Scottish devolution experience as a model for Bristol and Yorkshire (The Yorkshire Post, September 14).

In 1999 education, the NHS, the legal system and local government, the major sources of power, money and public services in Scotland, were brought under the control of an elected Parliament.

They had all been in Scottish control for hundreds of years anyway, minus the new tier of politicians and bureaucrats.

In the past 18 years, this extra layer of officialdom has presided over a decline in all these services – especially education – culminating in a report last week that 40 per cent of our teachers want to leave the profession in the next 18 months.

As a result, the SNP’s 1.6m votes in the 2015 General Election plummeted to 1.1m in June and we even saw a revival in the Tory vote.

I suppose we would 
prefer to keep the devolved Parliament, but many people are heartily sick of the endless constitutional debates and have yet to see many benefits from devolution.