FAR be it for me to jump to the Tele’s defence (‘Inaccuracies over RAAC’, 27 September) but it is worth pointing out to Stuart McMillan MSP that in the period the SNP have been in government in Scotland, Inverclyde Council found a way to transform our education estate with investment of not far short of £300m.

That was done against a backdrop of Tory austerity at Westminster and SNP cuts to local government funding in Scotland that have been significantly greater in scale than the cuts the Scottish Government faced from the UK Government.

It was also done during a period when the Scottish Government, championed by Mr McMillan, imposed council tax freezes and caps on councils, which is one of the root causes of the ongoing financial challenges we are dealing with.

Politics is about priorities and in this case the SNP have not prioritised investment in the college estate in Inverclyde, never mind our prison, police station or hospital as Mr McMillan reminds us. To blame Westminster entirely is a lame excuse.

The panacea, as always, is independence with Mr McMillan claiming that if the Scottish Government was able to spend every penny raised from the Scottish people in tax all our problems would be solved.

He conveniently forgets that the Scottish Government’s own GERS (Government Revenue & Expenditure Scotland) figures consistently show that Scotland raises significantly less in taxes than is spent on public services, meaning that an independent Scotland would immediately face very difficult choices on taxes and public spending.

Councillor Stephen McCabe

Inverclyde East (Ward 1)