azzuri
'Our Scotland' Fossil
Joined: 12 Sep 2005
Posts: 3777
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 Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:28 pm Post subject: Herald Letter........... |
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source - www.theherald.co.uk
| Quote: |
Herald Letter, December 20 2005
I'M ALL for a bit of fantasy fiction in the festive season, so I was
delighted when the latest Gers report (Government Expenditure and
Revenue in Scotland) dropped through my letterbox. This annual bad
fairy tale has excelled itself this year, reporting that Scotland's
apparently permanent desperate financial plight has comfortably beaten
all previous records.
In previous years I have taken this official document seriously, but
now I can only regard it as economic fantasy. It tells us that in
2003/04 Jack McConnell's "smart successful Scotland" had to be kept
afloat yet again by a massive subsidy of £11.2bn from the
ever-generous UK Treasury. This is almost £2bn more than the previous
year, and equivalent to a free hand-out of £2240 to every man, woman
and child in Scotland. Like Victor Meldrew, I don't believe it!
In the report, the figure of £34bn is described as "total government
receipts in Scotland", but it carefully excludes all £6.9bn of North
Sea oil revenues. "Identifiable government expenditure for Scotland"
of £37.2bn is then increased by another £8.1bn for "non-identifiable
expenditure and accounting adjustments". Most of the underlying
figures rely heavily on estimates and assumptions because incredibly,
after almost eight years of devolution, no-one in government has yet
set up systems to collect specific details for Scotland.
The report candidly admits that primary sources of UK revenue and
expenditure are recorded centrally, and merely "allocated to the
various regions [sic] using accepted economic methodology". And like
most official statistics, it all depends on how the figures are
presented. If we add in North Sea oil revenue and leave out arbitrary
allocations of UK general costs, we arrive at very different outcome.
Income raised in Scotland becomes £40.9bn and spending only £37.2bn,
producing a net surplus of £3.7bn. That puts rather a different
complexion on things, doesn't it?
When such blatant political spin is presented as legitimate public
information, it's hard to take it seriously. Presumably that's why The
Herald's coverage was just two paragraphs tacked on to another
financial piece. Certainly with its serious shortcomings the present
Gers report is simply not worth its 54 glossy pages.
Iain A D Mann, 7 Kelvin Court, Glasgow. |
Good on you Iain
_________________
"Every single person on this planet is unique. Just like everyone else..." - Random Guy in Edinburgh Pub
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