Doomsday scenario

THE Institute of Fiscal Studies soberly assesses that Scotland would face ‘at least’ a decade of austerity, hand-in-hand with massive cuts to public services, under the SNP’s Growth Commission blueprint for independence.

Former prime minister Gordon Brown is less guarded. Austerity would, he warned, be ‘here until Doomsday’.

The report by the SNP-sponsored Growth Commission was meant to give the party a rare foray into factual territory. It was to tackle the fundamental questions that the 2014 Scotland’s Future White Paper (cosponsor: N Sturgeon) blithely glossed over.

Nationalist zealots think it has breathed new life into the independence campaign but the IFS think-tank’s assessment paints a picture of a go-it-alone Scotland bumping along the economic bottom. Spending on health, justice and education would be lower than elsewhere in the UK. Austerity would last a decade at a minimum – and possibly as long as 18 years.

Hard to square that with SNP claims that the Growth Commission rejects austerity – it would be foisting it on Scots for a very long time – and Mr Brown’s ‘until Doomsday’ assessment could be accurate.

The difficulty for Nicola Sturgeon is having to admit to No voters that what we were told in 2014 was moonshine but that, hey, we’re telling the truth this time, honest.

She also has to manage the expectations of the hotheads in her party who want to hear the starting gun fired on Indyref 2. But she knows the vision of an impoverished, diminished Scotland her Growth Commission holds out is all she has to offer. No end of stunted Westminster walkouts and disruption makes that attractive to the public. THE donug – an odd-sounding blend of chicken nugget and doughnut batter – has attracted finance for its Scottish inventor via Australia’s Dragon’s Den. The Mail wishes Crag Carrick the best of luck – but in light of the deep-fried Mars bar, we also hope it remains a hit only Down Under.