Now the SNP peddle ‘utter fantasy’over Scotland plc

By Alan Roden Scottish Political Editor SNP MINISTERS have launched a disastrous attempt to rescue their independence dream, despite warnings that Scotland’s economy is set to lag behind the UK for years to come.

Finance Secretary Derek Mackay was accused of spinning ‘utter fantasy to the Scottish people’ yesterday following a car-crash radio interview in which he claimed the nation’s 9.5 per cent deficit would not prevent EU membership.

The deficit – the difference between expenditure and revenue as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – is by far the highest of all EU states, including Greece.

The EU considers anything above 3 per cent to be ‘excessive’, and can impose financial penalties and withhold payments to members who fall foul of that – with only the UK exempt.

Economy Secretary Keith Brown later added to the SNP’s woes by claiming the nation’s official balance sheet, produced by his Government’s top economists, includes figures which are ‘relatively vague’.

But leading independent economist John McLaren, of ScottishTrends, said: ‘What can be said, with a greater degree of confidence, is that the relative difference between the fiscal positions of Scotland and the UK is likely to remain at around the level seen in 2015-16.

‘That is, with Scotland being relatively worse off by 5.5 per cent of GDP or £1,600 per head, due to the effective demise, now and into the future, of the North Sea as a source of tax revenue.’

The warning came after it was revealed that Scotland’s deficit soared once again, to £14.8billion in 2015-16, greater than the size of the annual NHS budget.

That is equivalent to 9.5 per cent of GDP, up from 9.1 per cent, while the UK as a whole is heading back towards the black with its deficit shrinking from 5 per cent to 4 per cent.

The crisis has been fuelled by a 97 per cent fall in oil revenues.

Scottish Tory finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said: ‘We were told the SNP was going to start being honest about the damage independence would cause to Scotland. Instead, Derek Mackay showed that the plan is still to shut their eyes as tight as possible in the hope everyone else does too.

‘If ever an independent Scotland did seek EU membership, it would need to convince other EU nations that it had a plan to bear down on the huge deficit we’re running. The last thing the EU would want is to take on the risk of another bail out.

‘So Nicola Sturgeon needs to be straight with people – if she wants to make the case for independence within the EU, what would the price of that be Under pressure: Derek Mackay in higher taxes and reduced spending?’

Scottish Labour economy spokesman Jackie Baillie said: ‘It is increasingly clear that the promises the SNP made in 2014 were completely misleading, but rather than admit it, SNP ministers continue to spin utter fantasy to the Scottish people.’

But Mr Mackay said the UK was running a deficit of more than 10 per cent after the financial crisis ‘and no one asked the UK to leave’ the EU – although the UK is exempt from the rules.

He told BBC Radio Scotland: ‘If we were independent, we would be able to make different choices and pull different economic levers to accelerate growth. Look at spending in terms of the UK Government. We wouldn’t support Trident [nuclear weapons].’

Mr Brown later told the Press Association: ‘That deficit, of course, accrues in the current constitutional settlement. A different set of calculations are made, I believe, in relation to an independent Scotland. Some of

‘Shutting their eyes tightly’ ‘Completely misleading’

the figures are relatively vague that come out from [the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland report] that come from the UK Government.

‘They don’t take into account, for example, the disproportionate spend in Scotland for defence expenditure. So these figures are incomplete and I don’t believe provide the necessary and definitive position for Scotland.

‘Of course, it is the case that we didn’t have a success in the referendum in 2014 in terms of us being independent, so these figures reflect the current constitutional position.’

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