Disingenuous
Scottish Secretary David Mundell’s portrayal on Wednesday of the GERS’ figures as providing an actual benefit of £1,900 to every individual in Scotland is disingenuous. Part of this figure (40 per cent) is an allocation of UK spend which may not occur in Scotland. The Growth Commission estimated savings from Defence and other UK programmes which would move the deficit down by 1.2 percentage points. Mundell’s claim of a Scotland relying on oil is over-stated. The Growth Commission deliberately excluded oil revenues from its estimate of a starting deficit. The actual position will still present a challenge in the early years, but what of the Better Together alternatives?
Labour remains unlikely to win an election and, if it did, the 2017 manifesto tells us they would deliver “sound finances”, follow a “Fiscal Credibility Rule”, aim to eliminate the current deficit in five years and reduce the overall national debt. Richard Leonard seems unacquainted with this programme and its similarity to the Growth Commision.
The offer from Mundell is a continuation of the present arrangement, even more unlikely than a Labour victory. Brexit will blow a hole in the UK finances; Johnson, Rees-mogg, even Farage await their chance and are no
friends of Scotland; and the English nationalism which daily grows will not tolerate this apparent subsidy while England suffers.note that a supposed “£1,900 Union dividend” for every person in Scotland, if ended, becomes a £150200 “dividend” for every person in England.
ROBERT FARQUHARSON
Lee Crescent, Edinburgh
I think we should be grateful
to Jim Houston (Letters, 24 August) for drawing attention (if inadvertently) to some of the anomalies inherent in an economic assessment (GERS) based largely on extrapolations, samples and 25 out of 26 income streams being estimates. However, instead of making invidious comparisons with the GDP of Zimbabwe, I wonder if Mr Houston can explain how Scotland, with 12 per cent of the UK’S
population, can be responsible for one third of its deficit? Furthermore, how can Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with 16 per cent of the UK’S population, be responsible for 66 per cent of its deficit?
GILL TURNER
Derby Street, Edinburgh