Devolution finances

Still evolving

Scotland is to raise more of the money it spends—whether it wants to or not

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Readers' comments



Those who read this article and who do not live in Scotland, may fail to realise that come the next general election the likelyhood is that the SNP will sweep the board in seats gained to the UK parliament with a virtual whitewash in respect of the Conservative vote and perhaps leaving simply a rump of Labour MP's in the die-hard areas of the central belt.
The Scottish population as sickened by the expenses scandel as our friends south of the border desperatly want to change the status quo. A large group of SNP MP's will be seen as a mandate for independence by the general populace who will rightly shy away from Calman's handouts and his tinkering with our soverenity. If our government want to control speed limits.airguns or whatever all they have to do is vote for it. It's only the quality of their backbones at the moment which fails to produce the progress we so desperatly desire.
Respected forensic accountants such as Nial Aslen have debunked the nonsense figures produced by the UK government on Scotland's ability to fend for it'self. We will make sure that the whole of our country know these facts by the next election.
The UK has just wasted another 500.000 on a report that will never be implemented.


About time the Scots paid for there upkeep. They put not much more in than Wessex yet enjoy independence is sickening, and its only because of Labour they get that makes it even more bitter. Same goes for the Welsh!

@ SlyFifer: Yey! Leave the Union! Maybe Hadrians wall can be put up again and we'll see how the Scots get on without the Unions support or money.

Brian Hill

The commission proposes letting the Scottish government....

The key word in this part sentence, in this article,in Calman and in Devolution as it is currently set up is 'letting' i.e. allowing.

More and more Scots are getting a tad fed up being allowed or not allowed to x, y or z.

If you in England want to keep your precious union i.e. the pretence of 'great britain' then you will find that only Full Fiscal Autonomy will do.

Having said that, I think we are past that stage and Independence is now an idea whose time has come.

The momentum is growing rapidly and this is without the damning facts about our Oil wealth, how long the OIL economists think it will last and the suppression of its true worth and true size by successive UK Governments since 1975.

Once the Referendum Campaign begins on St Andrews day this year with the publication of the Referendum White Paper these raw facts will begin to emerge, minus the unionist spin and distortions.

Independence is an idea whose time has come. Only Full Fiscal Autonomy has any chance of holding it up.


The differences in opinion centre around the way the Union is presented. In Scotland it is presented by the unionists as a true Union one of equals. In England it is presented as the final acquisition in bringing the whole Island together as a single political unit.
It was to be expected after 300 years that the Scots would accept being part of that larger single identity. The ordinary Scots never accepted that it truly was a union just annexation by another name. The ruling classes in Scotland saw an opportunity in being part of this bigger political entity. In England the powerful elite saw the cost as a minor one to eliminate an inconvenient irritation on their northern border.
As there was no real democracy in either country at the time it has never been truly ratified. James the VI violated the Declaration of Arbroath and should have lost the throne of Scotland on his acceptance of the English throne.
I understand the English prespective that as a region Scotland should not have a privileged position or share of the power. In Scotland it is felt the Union is not equal and measuring things on a per capita basis as is often done in this paper reinforces this fact.
London not only has a fortunate geographic location with the European continent, as the political capital it has been doubly blessed. Scotland lost the benefits of having a political capital and is geographically handicapped in relation to the European continent. Northern England suffers of course from the same problems but they were always a political region of England.
The opposition to the European Union in England is quite understandable in that the benefits of integration with the continent do not make up for the loss of political identity.Even if the standard of living would be higher by ceding all political power to Brussels no self respecting Englishman would accept that.
Like the Lisbon treaty the Union of Parliaments and the Union of the Crowns have never been properly presented to the people of the United Kingdom. Alex Salmond is correct a referendum is long overdue and all Scots would support the same questions being put to the English electorate. Let us have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and at the same time put the Union of the Crowns and Parliaments to the whole of the United Kingdom.
Only a majority in both countries would confirm all three actions, if England rejects the Union and Scotland accepts, it should not go forward. I am convinced that had fully democratic societies existed in 1707 neither electorate would have voted for the Union of Parliaments.


The article states: PERHAPS the biggest problem in politics is how to match the public’s desire for things like roads, hospitals and schools with its dislike of paying the taxes needed to build and run them.
This is not true. What we taxpayers oppose is paying $10 in taxes for only $1 of state services in return. For example, here in California our teachers, fireman, and policeman can retire as early as age 52 with pensions that average well over $50,000 per year. And we, the taxpayer, pay them these pensions for the rest of their life even though we are receiving no services in return.

Mince and mealie

"Seceding from Britain is not especially popular in Scotland". (it says here)

Opinion polls over the last couple of years on the 'binary question' (independence versus the status quo) consistently show around 40% in favour of independence, 40% for the status quo and 20% don't know or don't care.

If 40% support for independence means it is 'not especially popular', then it must be the case that continuation of the Union is 'not especially popular' either.

If independence wasn't 'especially popular', one would think that a referendum would put the issue to bed for a long time in favour of the Union....I'm sure readers of the Economist can draw their own conclusion from the fact that the three major Unionist political parties are all opposed to holding a Scottish independence referendum, while the SNP is in favour.

The Calman commission, following its brief to exclude anything which might weaken the Union, offers a few more crumbs from the table, but not anything fiscally significant like corporation tax or the oil revenues. Incredibly, it argues that because oil revenues are variable, Scotland shouldn't use them in its budget. If I was a Norwegian stand up comedian I reckon could make a living telling that as a joke...

Mr. Marcus

Gandhi is attributed with saying that there is no people on earth who would rather be well governed by a foreigner than poorly governed themselves. The acidic views posted here and in other articles such as bizzarely debates on the BBC license fee, would support that view.

It is true that neither country was a full modern democracy in 1707 and that the Stuart dynasty nearly ruined the subsequent Union. It is also true that the current grant is generous and that without Scotland we would have a different Prime Minister in office than the current wasted incumbent.

Maybe with full autonomy or complete independence Scots will finally learn one age old adage. Your politicians will be just as disspointing as everyone else's.

And for the record Mr Hill, its not only Scots that are a "tad fed up" with being told what to do. 12 years of Labour has filled a lot of people down here with an increasingly angry sense that somethings are no one else's business but your own.



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