EU funding is UK’s cash

I write in reply to Alex Orr’s letter in the Courier on August 18.

There is no such thing as EU funding. The UK is a net contributor to the European Union so any money we do receive is merely UK money that’s done a wee round trip via Brussels.

The funding programme from 2014-2020 was obviously made up by Brussels before Brexit. Counting chickens before they’re hatched springs to mind.

As for Scotland’s economy, read the 2014/15 Government Expenditure and Revenue for Scotland, as compiled by the SNP themselves.

It shows that total revenue (onshore and offshore) for the period was £53.4bn.

Total expenditure for the period was £68.4bn, leaving a deficit of approximately £15bn for the year.

Oil revenues for the period were only £1.8bn.

The oil revenues for 2015/16 are predicted to be around £600m. Scotland spends that in just over two days.

In effect, the £100m stimulus package that the First Minister has proclaimed with great fanfare is money we don’t have.

Scotland has run an ever-increasing deficit for the last 12 years and now stands as one of the largest in the EU. These shortfalls have been covered by the UK Treasury.

For the foreseeable future oil is finished as a major contributor to the economy.

If Scotland did vote for independence we would be looking at a serious cutback to services or major tax rises to cover the shortfall until some other means were found to balance the books.

If Scotland post-independence were allowed to remain a member of the EU any financial decisions would be left in the hands of Brussels.

Think Greece and think austerity on a level not experienced here - not even under a Tory administration.

Scotland would be a recipient nation akin to the bankrupt ex-Soviet countries that the EU seem so determined to add to the pack. James Doolan, by email