Latest Scottish Tax & Spend Numbers show why we are Better Together

The article below by my former Physics IV colleague Ian Gray deserves a read.  In simple language it demolishes the SNP case for a financialy secure indepndant Scotland.

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It was obvious the SNP knew the latest Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) figures were bad news for them when the First Minister briefed journalists instead of John Swinney whose job it usually is.

 

Of course they were right, for the sums just don’t support their rhetoric on Scotland’s financial position and their promise of economic prosperity under independence. 

 

In their White Paper, the SNP’s vision for future income is largely dependent on revenue from oil which is a volatile and finite resource. What these new GERS numbers show is that last year, if you divvy up oil on a geographic basis, Scotland’s oil revenues dropped by 44% as oil gets harder to extract from the North Sea and therefore less profitable. 

 

This is a drop in one year of £4.4billion, equal to the budget for all of Scotland’s schools combined. If we were an independent nation right now then that hole in the Scottish economy would have to be filled by a Scottish Chancellor either by huge cuts in public services, or massive tax rises. There is certainly no spare oil money for any oil fund to be set up. 

 

Over the last year the SNP have based much of their economics of independence on the assertion that Scotland’s deficit is lower than the UK’s. The latest figures show that while they’ve been arguing for separation based on this claim, the reality is that Scotland’s deficit (8.3%) is actually greater than the rest of the UK’s (7.3%). This blows their economic case for separation out of the water.  It leaves the White Paper, already shown to be wrong on currency and Europe, without a shred of credibility.

 

The GERS numbers are complex and the SNP have complicated them further in their attempt to conceal the bad news and bamboozle us with varied interpretations of the figures. However, the bottom line is that the only way in which Scotland can withstand such volatile shifts in oil revenues is through the stability and security of being part of the larger UK economy. 

 

There is no doubt that the SNP’s fiscal case for separation has been dealt a fatal blow and they need to tell the people of Scotland how public services and pensions will be paid for if independence goes ahead.

 

Yours,

 

Iain Gray

Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance

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Speech to Labour Party Special Conference 2014

Comrades
My CLP met jointly with Inverness and Nairn CLP in  December to discuss and agree our response to the Collins Report.
We agree with much of the principle and proposals in the Report.
There is a real need for our party processes and structures to be modernised in order to tackle the widespread public disengagement with party politics.
We are in favour of developing new models of membership and affiliation for individuals wishing to play a role in the party.
But we also believe that the principle of collective affiliation to the Labour Party - by Trade Unions and Socialist Societies - is a bedrock of our movement which needs to be retained and developed.
We need to build on collective affiliation to develop better and modern ways to encouarge individual participation in labour party democracy by both trade union members and labour supporters in our communities.
So we support the proposals for affiliated memberships and One Member One Vote in the Collins Report.
We support the NEC resolution.

Comrades, I represent a Highland CLP.

Maybe I should be apologising at this point about Danny Alexander.

Well I can tell tell you we are working on it.  

Our Dump Danny Campaign is up, running and gaining wide support.

You can expect a Highland Portillo moment in 2015.

In September this year we will have the most important vote in Scotland in generations.

A referendum where the YES campaign to split up the UK is led by the SNP and Alex Salmond.

A leader whose response to facts, the polls, to business, the Bank of England, the EU commissioners....

...., to Ed Balls and his future opposition Treasury colleagues......

......  is to say "I'm right, you're wrong".

Not so much "One Member One Vote" as "One Man, My Vote, My Way"!

That's why were better together in Scotland.

That's why were better together in the UK with a One Nation Labour Party.

Comrades, support the Resolution.

Thank you.

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