Joan McAlpine: Spend £200m to go it alone and save billions in the long-run Jun 25, 2014 OUR columnist Joan argues that the cost of setting up an independent Scotland might sound a lot – but its nothing compared with the savings we could make. Scotland helps to pay for Westminster SCOTLAND would face costs of around £200million to set up a new country. These are the start-up costs calculated by London School of Economics expert Professor Patrick Dunleavy this week. It’s a price worth paying – because we’re worth it. In the long run, we’d save a fortune. UK Plc has very high overheads. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan cost £33.4billion. Scotland’s share was roughly £3billion. Spending £200million starting afresh is cheap by comparison. If we vote No in September, we will have to pay our share of the new Trident – that’s £10billion. The UK has very large overheads because its leaders cannot get over losing their empire. They have also concentrated power and money in the south-east of England, making Britain one of the most regionally divided nations in Europe. So if Scotland votes No, we will be forced to pay for high-speed rail that doesn’t reach our Border. Scotland’s share of that cost is £5billion. Peers and MPs at Westminster cost Scotland £50million a year. That will soar if we vote No. The entire Houses of Parliament are due a refurbishment costing £5billion. One senior Commons source told a newspaper last month: “There is no alternative to this. It sounds a lot but it amounts to £400million a year over a decade, or £200million over two decades, depending on the timescale for the work, which is peanuts for the Treasury.” Peanuts? The No campaign described the £200million one-off cost of independence as “wasteful”. Yet they are happy to pay that same amount every year for 20 years to ensure the upholstery in Westminster is fit for establishment bums. Staying with Westminster will ensure we squander huge amounts on wars, bombs, infrastructure in the south and comfortable seating for their Lordships. Staying with Westminster will ensure – by George Osborne’s own admission – another £25billion of cuts. It will ensure another 50,000 to 100,000 Scottish kids are pushed into poverty, according to the Child Poverty Action Group charity. If we vote Yes, for start-up costs of just £200million, we become an independent country. We can then get rid of the bedroom tax, get the governments we vote for, uprate the benefits of carers, keep our free prescriptions and free university education, introduce a Nordic system of early years childcare that will save families up to £4000 a year and raise the minimum wage, working towards a living wage for us all. It will not happen overnight but by controlling our own resources we can start building the kind of fair and prosperous country Scotland deserves to be. Professor Dunleavy, an expert in government structures, believes we can improve on the UK. He suggests government in Britain carries too much baggage. Countries of Scotland’s size can and do run more streamlined government. The UK state is top-heavy. It is weighed down by the self-importance of the people in charge. Scotland could do better for a lot less money.
Posted on: Wed, 25 Jun 2014 17:07:22 +0000
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