Independence ‘would extend austerity’

Fresh proposals for an independent Scotland suggest another decade of public spending restraint, new analysis concludes.

An assessment of the SNP’s Growth Commission report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said that if current conditions could be considered austerity, then that would continue under the proposals.

The IFS commended the report for addressing head on the “challenging” public finance picture that would confront an independent Scotland.

The commission’s recommendations include cutting the country’s deficit from an “anticipated starting point” of 5.9% at the time of leaving the UK to less than 3%.

IFS said: “Their proposals imply a other decade of the sort of restraint on public spending that Scotland is currently experiencing.

“If this is austerity, then austerity would be extended under the commission’s proposals.”

It continued: “The commission claims their proposals do not amount to austerity as public spending would be increasing in real terms.

“But their plans would mean spending on public services and benefits falling by 4% of GDP over the course of a decade.

“That’s on top of the reductions delivered and planned by the UK Government for the decade from 2010 to 2020, and the commission’s proposals for immediate cuts to defence and other spending currently undertaken by the UK Government.

“The ageing of the population – which adds to pressures on the health, social care and state pension budgets – means that keeping to an overall spending increase of just 0.5% a year would likely require cuts to many other public services.”

Meanwhile, Scotland would face “austerity until doomsday” if the country became independent, former prime minister Gordon Brown has said.

He issued the warning as he called for politicians north and south of the border to increase investment in the National Health Service.

Gordon Brown