tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post114409638487786099..comments2024-03-29T14:09:49.674+00:00Comments on Liberal England: The lessons of Scottish devolutionJonathan Calderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00730157683743989696noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-1145209661307173942006-04-16T18:47:00.000+01:002006-04-16T18:47:00.000+01:00Leaving aside the can of worms that is Scottish No...Leaving aside the can of worms that is Scottish North Sea Oil revenue - there is something going on that is distinctively fishy going on that is not entirely correct - the Scotman states that<BR/><BR/>"In its annual survey of the Scottish economy, the Executive said the government spent £45.3 billion in 2003-4, putting Scotland in a rare club of countries where state spending is more than half of the entire economy."<BR/><BR/>Not so. Buried away in the financial legislation that dictates the spending of the Scottish Parliament is a small piece of political dynamite. The Budget (Scotland) Act 2006 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/acts2006/asp_20060005_en.pdf<BR/><BR/>states that the resources of the Scottish administration are £25,463,337,000, plus one or two further (minor) expenditures on bureaucracy. Oh dear, not quite the £43bn that is touted - either that or Scotland has just had a major spending cut.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-1144249694359398372006-04-05T16:08:00.000+01:002006-04-05T16:08:00.000+01:00The original article spouts the same old nonsense ...The original article spouts the same old nonsense about tax etc. This is because the Tax revenue from North Sea Oil is counted as coming from "London" as opposed to Edinburgh. <BR/><BR/>The same mythology is used about Wales. At the time of the Assembly referendum the westminster government calculated there was £15 billion public expenditure in Wales and only £11 billion tax income. However this excluded the "Welsh" share of corporation tax, Vat and Excise duties. I suspect the scottish figures do the same ....another dodgy unionist trick....cymrumarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03669732438904553308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-1144144831960287092006-04-04T11:00:00.000+01:002006-04-04T11:00:00.000+01:00This is my concern.I am very nervous about being t...This is my concern.<BR/><BR/>I am very nervous about being the party of 'public services'. It sits uneasily with political and personal liberalism.<BR/>The goal should not be to provide services, but to enable service provision.<BR/><BR/>I also worry as its me and my generation paying for all this whilst being told we must save for our own future as this is unsustainable.<BR/><BR/>Again, I agree there does seem to be some movement away from promotion of liberty and movement towards a more nannyish outlook (a danger which is always present in liberal parties...)Tristanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15395992764678278326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-1144096860418217692006-04-03T21:41:00.000+01:002006-04-03T21:41:00.000+01:00The transfer of funds from south to north of the b...The transfer of funds from south to north of the border is, in many Scots' eyes, not too much and not too early. Recent revelations about the difference in economic viability of an independent Scotland with access to oil revenues thirty years ago could have put us in the delicious position of assisting the other partners in this united kingdom with money as well as political leaders.<BR/>Sure, this is a complex debate, but having recently moved from England to Scotland, one of the reasons I chose to make the move was that I wanted to live in a country less constrained by the Whitehall mentality than an England without its own parliament. Wales and Northern Ireland have both achieved many new and creative works with devolved administrations and Scotland is in the position to make choices for itself in most fields of public life.<BR/>If you are concerned about costs, just think how much we will save the public purse in years to come from the reduction in smoking-related illness and early death.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com