Time to call Sturgeon’s bluff, Cameron urged

SENIOR Conservatives are urging David Cameron to ‘call the SNP’s bluff’ by giving Scotland complete financial independence.

Cabinet sources say the reelected Prime Minister should hand Nicola Sturgeon the full control of tax and spending that she insists she wants.

Miss Sturgeon, whose party last week won a landslide victory north of the border, appeared to be taken aback in a TV interview at the weekend when it was suggested Scotland might be handed ‘full fis- cal autonomy’ at short notice. The SNP says it backs the idea, but wants it to be implemented over several years.

As well as making Scotland responsible for all its public spending and taxation, it would bring an end to the so-called Barnett Formula – which gives Scots an annual subsidy of around £1,600 per head. Some experts have warned that autonomy could leave a large black hole in Scotland’s finances. But supporters of the move insist this does not account for the impact of increased powers on economic growth.

Mr Cameron is being told by senior colleagues that the only way to save the Union is to ‘grasp the nettle’ and give the SNP what it claims to want.

But Lord Forsyth, the former Scottish Secretary, warned: ‘However you look at the numbers, fiscal autonomy would mean that the Scottish budget was about £8billion short of what was required.’

He added this would force the SNP to impose tax hikes or huge cuts in public services.

One of the SNP’s new MPs, economist George Kerevan, admitted that fiscal autonomy would plunge Scotland into deficit. Writing in the National newspaper, he said for Scotland to accept fiscal independence at present would be ‘tantamount to economic suicide’.

Mrs Sturgeon also made clear yesterday that Mr Cameron will not be allowed to scrap the Human Rights Act in Scotland.

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