I suspect that anyone who might read this blog will already have seen the front page of the Herald. There are not words to summarise just how good it feels that someone out there has noticed the simple truth: Scotland and England are about as rich as each other. England is not London just as Scotland is not Edinburgh.
The findings are based on UK government's own identifiable expenditure figures, together with work by independent consultants Oxford Economics to distribute the spending the UK government would rather not. How odd that suddenly London's public spending figure inflates under the weight of "armies of civil servants and creaking, expensive and essential transport infrastructure."
The facts are:
- Scotland's tax and spending are about balanced. This makes Scotland fiscally healthier than the UK as a whole, which runs a £36bn deficit.
- Scotland's tax contribution to the UK per head is second only to London. It exceeds the other eight English regions.
- These figures assume only 75% of the oil and gas revenue, and an oil price of $50 per barrel - some $46 per barrel lower than yesterday's price.
Now let's see whether SNP pundits on today's political programmes can spin this articulately, and whether the other papers run with it tomorrow.
Friday, 2 November 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comments:
Thank you; I new it was all lies about Scotland being subsidised. Particularly considering the oil revenues.
It is London that is being subsidised. Seriously that city has major problems, one of the highest unemployment rates and levels of crime in the UK, despite some very wealthy people living there.
I would rather work in Glasgow than London, and maybe one day I will get a chance to get out of Birmingham and do just that! (I'm from Northern Ireland by the way)
Post a Comment