IN his Budget speech, Philip Hammond, Chancellor of the Exchequer said that he will fund an increase in nurses' pay in England in such a way that it will not appear in the NHS England budget, so avoiding Barnett consequentials and leaving the devolved parliaments to fund increases themselves.

At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, answering a question on Women Against State Pension Inequality, Damian Green, UK First Secretary of State, said that if the Scottish Government felt so strongly about the situation it could use its devolved powers to deal with the solution in Scotland at its own expense.

During the Brexit debate last week, Jeremy Corbyn's whips ordered his MPs to show solidarity with the Tories by voting down an amendment to the Repeal Bill from Edinburgh South Labour MP Ian Murray; this week Mr Corbyn has been in Glasgow, promising a Scottish Utopia if it votes Labour, standing beside Richard Leonard, whose only policy is berating the performance of the Scottish Government.

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While Westminster parties raised important matters such as NHS pay, women's pensions and the Brexit shambles, Holyrood opposition parties outdid each other, almost hysterical over when the Scottish Government became aware of the thickness of tar on the Queensferry Crossing in First Minister’s Questions (November 30).

The Unionist parties in Westminster are now treating the Scottish Parliament and their Scottish branches with total contempt; the so-called Scottish Unionist parties now concentrate entirely on trivia and running down anything and everything to do with Scotland.

John Jamieson,

37 Echline Place, South Queensferry, West Lothian.

IS it not pitiful that the Tory leader Ruth Davidson and the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie hold Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP accountable for the snagging delay on the Queensferry Crossing. Ms Davidson even suggested the SNP was damaging public trust over the issue.

She ought to keep a sense of perspective. Is she suggesting that if her party was governing Scotland, the snags on the bridge would never have materialised? I am visualising her with her monkey wrench and hard hat atop the structure, looking like a fugitive from the funny papers, assuring us all will be hunky-dory.

What really damages public trust, however, are the ramblings of politicians who treat the public like goggle-eyed children on their first day at school. Their persistent political point-scoring and negativity are not only boring but exceedingly annoying. The Scottish electorate deserves better.

William Burns,

41/8 Pennywell Road, Edinburgh.

SUCH a to-do about a five-day lane closure on the new bridge. You would think by the hysterical outcry from Labour and the Tories in Holyrood that the bridge had fallen into the sea, when all that has happened is that motorists might be delayed by as much as two minutes in switching to the Forth Road Bridge for a few days.

Of all the road lane closures happening across Scotland, this has probably caused the least inconvenience and will cost nothing because it is a contractor’s responsibility.

The old Forth Road Bridge was continually under maintenance and lanes were often closed but we never heard a cheep about that in Holyrood, because even the Tories could not think of a way to pin that on the SNP, no matter how they tried.

James Duncan,

30/4 Rattray Grove, Edinburgh.

BY definition in major construction terms the new Queensferry Crossing being closed for re-surfacing work can hardly be described as "snagging”.

The specification of the road finish is well defined in the bridge construction manuals and if this wasn't completed to the approved standard then the bridge should not have been opened.

It could well be that the political pressure to open the bridge prematurely could have caused more damage to the bridge surface, hence the need to close the bridge this weekend and with more planned closures to follow.

Dennis Forbes Grattan,

3 Mugiemoss Road, Bucksburn, Aberdeen.