Letter: Give Scots the government they voted for, or lose them

I READ with interest your discussion on the possibility of Scotland breaking away from the union (Review, 20 September). I have never seen such euphoria in Scotland as when Labour won the last election. Three months later this had turned to disillusionment. After 18 years of Conservative rule we never voted for, we did not vote for more of the same. For us there is no Third Way. The free market can be a creative force, but also a destructive one. We, who are part of the "flexible" workforce in manufacturing, had hoped for a sympathetic government prepared to intervene.

Why does the unthinkable have to be thought on welfare? Are not our benefits some of the lowest in the industrialised West? What boom and bust? There has never been a boom up here. What welfare-to-work? There is no work!

Why the attitude, "if you want more do it yourself"? Why not a one-nation government? I know where my vote will be going in May.

GEORGE STEIN

Dumfries