GERS figures open up old wounds

The publication of Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland data yesterday led to arguments as divisive as they were utterly predictable. It was hard to believe that almost exactly three years have passed since the independence referendum as, once again, the potential for Scotland to break away from the rest of the UK dominated discussion.

The arguments are well rehearsed and were trotted out with the usual vehemence by all the usual suspects.

The case for independence was, the SNP’s opponents said, nothing more than a “con”. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon hit back in equally predictable fashion. Nobody, she opined, could have predicted the slump in oil prices.

Nevertheless, what the figures have undoubtedly shown is that SNP estimates were out by billions of pounds. The real crux of the matter for politicians appears to be whether or not those backing independence lied or simply blundered.

Yesterday, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie called for a “formal written explanation” of the mistaken estimates. Labour leader Kezia Dugdale was in similarly bombastic form, suggesting the SNP would have left an independent Scotland with “unprecedented levels of austerity”.

We have now had three years of the blame game – perhaps it is time for our elected officials to look to the future rather than the past?