Here comes the love: The Telegraph: “If independence is rejected, large majorities of voters south of the Border support cutting Scottish public spending to the UK average and banning Scottish MPs from voting on English-only laws at Westminster. The researchers found overwhelming support, with 62 per cent in favour and 12 per cent opposed, for the proposition that ‘Scottish MPs should be prevented on voting on laws that apply only in England.’ By a similarly large margin of 56 per cent to 12 per cent, the English said Scottish public spending should be cut to the UK average following a No vote.” The Scotsman: “An English backlash against Scotland’s demands for greater political power is looming, whatever the outcome of the independence referendum. Even after a No vote, people south of the Border say public spending in Scotland should be reduced to bring it into line with the UK average, which the SNP has warned could see £4 billion removed from the Scottish budget. ‘The English appear in no mood to be particularly accommodating however Scots choose to vote in their independence referendum,’ said researcher Professor Richard Wyn Jones, of Cardiff University. There is strong English support for reducing levels of public spending in Scotland to the UK average – a development that would lead to savage cuts in public services north of the Border.’” It seems safe to say that the lovebombing is over! Confused about is the £4bn figure. The No campaign has been hammering away for several weeks now on a figure of £1400 “for every man, woman and child” in extra UK spending in Scotland. The population of Scotland is 5.3 million. Multiplied by 1400 that’s £7.42bn, not £4bn. That’s the £7bn which would be slashed from the Scottish budget were the Barnett Formula (the source of the “higher spending”) to be ended and Scotland made to raise its own tax revenue under new devolved powers proposed by all three Unionist parties – but NOT given control of its oil revenues. It would be impossible to recoup that vast figure from tax rises, because people would simply flood out of Scotland in their millions. The only way to get it back would be, as noted by Professor Jones, cuts to the Scottish budget of a magnitude unlike anything previously seen under austerity. Scottish voters are about to be faced with a stark choice. They can choose to take responsibility for their own affairs and manage the future with the security of a massive oil bonanza behind them, or they can choose to run away from responsibility watch Westminster which will be under enormous pressure from voters to punish them viciously in the name of “more devolution”.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 00:15:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015