Shropshire Star: Scotland benefits while we pay out

Scotland benefits while we pay out

On April 1st the cost of prescriptions in England went up to £6.85 per
item. On the same day in Wales the charges were abolished.

In Scotland 92% of prescriptions are dispensed free of charge and MSPs only
narrowly rejected a bill to abolish them completely in 2005. It is only a
matter of time before they are abolished north of the border.

In Scotland pensioners are entitled to free public transport throughout the
country at all times and Northern Irish pensioners have just been given the
right to travel on public transport throughout Ulster and the Republic of
Ireland free of charge at any time.

In Scotland the elderly are entitled to free personal care in the care home
of their choice without having to go through means testing or selling their
homes.

In Scotland cancer sufferers get the newest and most expensive
treatments. The same applies to those suffering from dementia.

In England the same drugs are refused because the cost of the treatment is
more than the value the English NHS puts on a life.

In England we will shortly be required to pay to have a satellite spy box
fitted to our cars and pay per mile to drive on our roads. The same law
won’t apply to Scotland and Wales so they will be able to drive in England was
well as in their own countries without paying the road pricing tax.

The transport minister was elected in Scotland yet his department doesn’t
have a say in what happens to transport in Scotland.

Taking into account the above and the many other services our neighbours
receive it would be understandable for an Englishman to feel left out but there
is no need because we get something that our neighbours don’t - the
bill.

Stuart Parr
Telford