The SNP want to use any bargaining power they may have after the UK General Election this May to introduce an extreme form of devolution known as Devo Max. As they argued in their submission to the Smith Commission:
“The Scottish Government believes the principle should be that all taxes raised in Scotland should be the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament unless there are good reasons for them being reserved......The Scottish Parliament should also be responsible for all domestic spending, including welfare, and make agreed payments to the UK Government for reserved services."
This means that the Scottish budget would have to find the full cost of falling oil revenues, instead of sharing the risk across the UK. Lost revenues now total £6 billion compared to the figures in the Scottish Government’s November 2013 White Paper. This also means for that reason alone the Scottish deficit in 2016-17 would be more than 6% of GDP, one of the biggest in the developed world.
By sheer coincidence, the amount the ConDem coalition has cut from the Scottish budget since introducing austerity economics is also £6bn. That has resulted in 50,000 public service job losses and huge cuts in the services our communities rely on.
Volatile tax revenues like oil do not make suitable devolved taxes. That’s why trade unions in Scotland argued against the devolution of this tax in their submissions to the Smith Commission.
SNP Devo Max will devolve Tory and Lib Dem austerity to Scotland all over again. No thanks!
“The Scottish Government believes the principle should be that all taxes raised in Scotland should be the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament unless there are good reasons for them being reserved......The Scottish Parliament should also be responsible for all domestic spending, including welfare, and make agreed payments to the UK Government for reserved services."
This means that the Scottish budget would have to find the full cost of falling oil revenues, instead of sharing the risk across the UK. Lost revenues now total £6 billion compared to the figures in the Scottish Government’s November 2013 White Paper. This also means for that reason alone the Scottish deficit in 2016-17 would be more than 6% of GDP, one of the biggest in the developed world.
By sheer coincidence, the amount the ConDem coalition has cut from the Scottish budget since introducing austerity economics is also £6bn. That has resulted in 50,000 public service job losses and huge cuts in the services our communities rely on.
Volatile tax revenues like oil do not make suitable devolved taxes. That’s why trade unions in Scotland argued against the devolution of this tax in their submissions to the Smith Commission.
SNP Devo Max will devolve Tory and Lib Dem austerity to Scotland all over again. No thanks!
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