GERS figures rebuff is fooling nobody

SIR, – The idiom “hook, line and sinker” sprang to mind after reading Margaret Tuckerman’s attempt (Letters, September 10) to discredit GERS figures which showed a massive £15 billion fiscal deficit.

First, GERS was mentioned 15 times in the SNP’s white paper and was lauded both by Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon in 2014. But then the oil was priced at $117 a barrel and not the $40 of today.

Furthermore, most people understand the “balanced” budget is a deficit budget which includes the largesse of the Union dividend

and would not exist in an indy Scotland.

Having swallowed the bait, Margaret Tuckerman used the line often used by the SNP which is the fake news about money being spent in England at Scotland’s expense. Clearly she has never heard of Barnett consequentials which means that Scotland gets its full share of any additional expenditure in England if there is no direct benefit north of the border – like HS2.

However the real “sinker” in her arguments refers to the disclaimer about Scotland’s share of the national debt in spite of a fiscal deficit nearly six times that of the rest of the UK. The SNP magic money tree is back in full swing but until they can tell us the currency no one in their right mind should support a party which does not understand the basics of how to run a devolved administration, let alone an independent country.

Ian Lakin, Murtle Den Road,

Milltimber, Aberdeen