Land of hope

Here are some facts that undermine the assertions in Les Reid’s letter of 11 April. There is a Scotland/england border, which was established in the 1237 Treaty of York and has remained broadly unchanged. It demarcates two legal jurisdictions and the separate Law Societies of Scotland and of England (and Wales) exist because of this border.

The Office for National Statistics gives the land masses of England and Scotland as 50,301 and 30,090 square miles respectively, so Scotland’s “independent stage” would hardly be small. Scotland has a population similar to that of Norway, Finland and Denmark, and like these medium-size countries, would join “a united response” to climate change. Whitelee Wind Farm will still produce renewable energy in an independent Scotland.

Les Reid does not define Scotland’s deficit – or source his claim that scotland spends far more than it raises in tax. In contrast, Professor David Simpson, founding director of the Fraser of Allander Institute, stated on 22 January the following: “Everywhere else in the world, including the UK, the term ’fiscal deficit’ means a shortfall in the revenue of a government compared to its expenditure. If Scotland’s fiscal balance was compiled according to recognised standards of national accounting, then the expenditure side of the balance would show expenditure by the Scottish Government. Since the Scottish Government is obliged by the devolution settlement always to balance its budget, Scotland’s fiscal deficit in the proper sense of that term is zero every year.”

E CAMPBELL Newton Mearns East Renfrewshire