England’s tax funds Scotland’s largesse

Sir, – As part of the world’s fifth largest economy Scotland is better off in the 300-year-old Union rather than breaking the bonds of shared culture, commerce and trade underwritten by the world’s international language, English.

How would an independent Scotland led by Nicola Sturgeon and Patrick Harvie make up for the shortfall of the Barnett largesse when the Treasury tap was turned off ? What taxes would have to rise, what expenditure would have to be cut? Just how much of a midden would the Scottish economy be in?

All the freebies Scots get as part of the United Kingdom are thanks to the Barnett Formula. Scotland receives £32 billion per annum from the Treasury to pay for these giveaways – many of which are really policies to buy votes.

The Barnett Formula is not a legal obligation and was introduced 40 years ago as a temporary measure. It’s time for change because it’s not ethical that English taxpayers pay for Scottish largesse.

The Scottish Government has the power to raise taxes to pay for its profligacy, so why shouldn’t it? If this were done now it would let Scots see how independence would diminish the quality of their lives and put the separation question beyond doubt.

Another solution would be for the UK Government to revise the distribution of the £2,000 per man, woman and child subsidy that every Scot gets so that, say, £1,000 of that is paid directly into Scots’ bank accounts, making a family of four £4,000 better off, with the SNP government having either to make up the shortfall by taxation or cut its profligate spending. They wouldn’t like that at all, would they? William Loneskie. Justice Park,

Oxton.

ALLIANCE: First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, centre, with Greens Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater.