The Economic Case for an Independent Scotland

[Reynard]

The SNP are happy to give us a say on staying or leaving one union but not whether we want to join another. Why?

[doulikefish]

The SNP are happy to give us a say on staying or leaving one union but not whether we want to join another. Why?

scots are happy europeans romney

Is the euro still going?

[Reynard]

http://www.scottisheconomywatch.com/brian-ashcrofts-scottish/2013/04/sterling-and-scottish-independence.html

This was from last year after the currency union thing was first mooted. It goes into a bit of detail about the percieved balance of payments drivel that the SNP claim will occur. And why currency union or even just using sterling isn't a very good idea. Worth a read if you are sufficiently interested.

[H_B]

They said we woul.negotiate terms from within.the EU as part of the UK.

Wrong.

The SNP said for years that we would inherit membership, along with rUK following Independence.

[Davi3j]

Wrong.

The SNP said for years that we would inherit membership, along with rUK following Independence.

do try and keep up, your knowledge of whats going on is clearly out of date.

[HardyBamboo]

Wrong.

The SNP said for years that we would inherit membership, along with rUK following Independence.

They aren't saying it now, do they have to stick to something they said forever? I change my mind on stuff regularly having done the research & considered the evidence! (As I am sure most people, organisations etc. do).

Lets get back to the Economics please.

[H_B]

They aren't saying it now,

Oh, well that's all right then? We can just airbrush the lying phase out of history shall we?

The poster said the SNP had been saying this "all along".

That is a lie. They said something fundamentally different for years.

[HardyBamboo]

Oh, well that's all right then? We can just airbrush the lying phase out of history shall we?

The poster said the SNP had been saying this "all along".

That is a lie. They said something fundamentally different for years.

Sorry, I cant keep this going. If it makes you happy, OK they lied, they aren't lying now, lets move on.

[HardyBamboo]

Some new information, from WoS, gained under a foi....

http://wingsoverscotland.com/as-it-was-is-and-shall-be/

As it was, is, and shall be

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Rev. Stuart Campbell

As we were collecting stuff for the new Repository in our Reference section, an alert reader pointed us to the thing we’re about to show you, which we hadn’t seen before. It dates from 1975 but was only released to the public a few years ago under the 30-year rule – having been kept secret by successive Labour and Conservative administrations in the intervening period – until it was retrieved by Irish journalist Tom Griffin.

[Jamaldo]

Oh, well that's all right then? We can just airbrush the lying phase out of history shall we?

The poster said the SNP had been saying this "all along".

That is a lie. They said something fundamentally different for years.

Boy you really don't like them do you?

[AUFC90]

Wrong.

The SNP said for years that we would inherit membership, along with rUK following Independence.

When the white paper came out they were talking about negotiating and its been pretty much the same line since. It doesn't really matter what they said before that, does it ? Really ?Of course we will have to negotiate but it will be from within the EU as part of the UK up until actual independance day. The EU have never kicked out anyone in their puff, not even economic basket cases like Greece. Does anyone here actually believe we will kicked out or that it will be some long drawn out process. No chance.

Anything on economics ? Or just more EU EU EU ,SNP are big bad liars drivel ? It's tedious as f**k.

[Baxter Parp]

Or just more EU EU EU ,SNP are big bad liars drivel ? It's tedious as f**k.

Be fair, it's all they've got.

[Wee Bully]

Dear God, I've just watched FMQ and Johann Lamont's attempts to discuss economics, it is like watching a car crash.

Is this really the best Labour can do?

[Baxter Parp]

Dear God, I've just watched FMQ and Johann Lamont's attempts to discuss economics, it is like watching a car crash.

Is this really the best Labour can do?

Astonishing, wasn't it?

[ayrmad]

Astonishing, wasn't it?

No, it was a lot worse than astonishing, all those behind that I could see were slowly nodding in agreement, how the fcuk do idiots get into or near power.

[Jamaldo]

They also allegedly clapped and cheered when Lamont basically said we were subsidised by Westminster.

They are fucking vermin.

[Baxter Parp]

They also allegedly clapped and cheered when Lamont basically said we were subsidised by Westminster.

 

They are fucking vermin.

Nothing alleged about it.

[Jamaldo]

Nothing alleged about it.

I only said allegedly because I haven't watched the video, just read the report.

[ayrmad]

A wee snippet from Newsnet Scotland

He said: "The £64.5bn figure quoted by Ms Lamont as representing the amount of funding Scotland receives from the UK Treasury, includes a proportion of borrowing by the Treasury to make up for the current UK deficit.

"In order to determine which direction any relative subsidy is flowing, we must first strip away the amount made up through borrowing. Stripping the UK borrowing away reveals that Scots contribute more per head into what's left than their UK counterparts.

"To put it simply, as things stand, if Scots pay in £9.90 then they get £9.30 back."

The borrowing powers of the Scottish Government are strictly limited by the Scotland Act 1998. Any such borrowing aimed at increasing public spending must only be from the UK Government. In effect, this means that the Scottish Government has no authority to raise extra resource by borrowing or sanctioning borrowing except for in exceptional circumstances.

The UK Government is able to borrow to fund public sector expenditure across the UK, including the Scottish Government block grant.

He added: "An independent Scotland would still have to borrow, as most countries do, in order to maintain public spending. However, with a lower deficit, the amount needed to make up the difference would be less than at present.

"Johann Lamont's claim that a newly independent Scotland would have less money to spend than it does at present is an indication of how little she understands government finance and deeply worrying for someone who has ambitions to be First Minister"

Analysts have predicted that by 2016-17, borrowing will see UK debt grow to £1.6 trillion which will be over 100 per cent of its GDP.

Scotland's share of that debt would be around £130bn which will be between 75 and 80 per cent of Scotland's GDP.

[HardyBamboo]

From Git Intae Them on the Will you Move thread;

"Here is one.

In 2011-2 the Scotch whisky industry had a 5 billion pound turnover. Nearly all revenue generated in Scotland.

Mostly all big whisky companies are headquarterd in London and virtually no tax is shown paid in Scotland.

Scotland generates the revenue. The corp tax goes through London books. London claims it generated the wealth.

This is one industry. One example of the stealth theft.

This applies to nearly every industry or service you can think of that is not headquartered in Scotland.

Eg Asda, Morrison, Tesco etc make huge profits in Scotland. No tax is currently paid in Scotland. When the GERS figures come out the revenues actually made and taxable as they should be in Scotlandare hidden.

In spite of this we still look in a good position compared to the rest of the UK.

Imagine the position if the true revenue potential was not hidden."

I didn't realise that this was the case, I also read somewhere that, as most Scotch Whisky is exported via English Ports, that the excise duty is claimed as an English receipt. Assuming this is a true reflection of the situation it would be interesting to know how much more an Independent Scotland could collect in Tax, Duties etc. from these "National" companies.