THE British tax payer is to give Scotland what is effectively a £4.5bn bribe to remain part of the United Kingdom.

Tax payers have also had to pay £250m fighting Libya’s civil war, spend billions fighting American’s war in Afghanistan and Iraq, to provide Uganda’s president with a personal jet, as well as pay for India’s space programme and Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme.

To pay for this, and bailing out the banks, has meant massive cuts in public spending on education, health care, pensions, defence and law enforcement.

Since the Government came to power, not only has the level of homelessness within Britain risen by 38 per cent, but rising food prices, utility bills and other costs have caused an increase by 50 per cent in the number of people in Britain seeking aid from food banks.

Given these facts and other recent events, it is clear that far too many Westminster politicians care more about circus animals, the rich, the people of other nations and contemplating their own political navel more than they do about the plight of the very people they are paid to serve.

CT Riley, Spennymoor.