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scotlandrules
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ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND ADVISOR GIVES £25,000 TO THE SNP!!!!!SNP Leader Alex Salmond MP today welcomed the pledge of support by former senior corporate advisor to the Royal Bank of Scotland and one of Scotland's most prominent business and property developers, Bill Samuel, who today announced a £25,000 donation to the SNP.
Writing in the Sunday Times today, Mr Samuel stated that it was "well within our capabilities not only to rank alongside our neighbouring countries – Norway, Iceland Finland and Ireland – but to surpass them" and "that if the SNP wins in May, then in Alex Salmond the country will have a leader of real vision".
In his article, Mr Samuel said that he was against devolution but that he has "been persuaded that the only way forward is full Independence with its compelling economic case".
Alex Salmond said:
"I am delighted to have the support of such a successful and well respected member of the Scottish business community as Bill Samuel.
"The SNP are committed to a positive election campaign about how we build a wealthier, healthier and safer country for all. Mr Samuel's statement today is a substantial and significant contribution to the debate about how we achieve a successful future for our country, and about how we best provide strong leadership that Scotland needs to succeed in the future.
"While the momentum behind the SNP's campaign is continuing to grow, in contrast Labour Party's campaign is floundering and beset by problems on all sides.
"Voters know that it's time for a fresh approach to the challenges and opportunities that face Scotland today. It's time for the SNP."
Now advisor for Royal Bank of Scotland support Independence. May I remind you all that the RBS is the largest banking group in Scotland, the second largest in the UK and Europe, and the fifth largest in the world by market capitalisation. I can only admagin how westminster is feeling at this time.
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Aventinian
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There seems to be a good few people floating over to the Nationalist cause out of being anti-devolution and frustrated by what it has led to.
I think this is rather cynical myself. The Scottish Parliament is young, has only been through two terms and has had the same Executive for its entire history. You can hardly judge devolution based on the past eight years performance.
Equally I do think the present structure could use fixing. Fiscal responsibility is definitely necessary, and that brings with it the chance for the Scottish Parliament to actually control the economy anyway.
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Claymore
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That’s good. Perhaps the position of the Scottish central bank would go to RBS being that their most successful in Scotland
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Maol.Chaluim
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| Aventinian wrote: | | The Scottish Parliament is young, has only been through two terms and has had the same Executive for its entire history. You can hardly judge devolution based on the past eight years performance. |
Obvioulsy, but at the same time, given current powers, there's next to nothing any Scottish government can do improve the economy, even if we had a centre-right, pro-business coalition at Holyrood.
| Aventinian wrote: | | Equally I do think the present structure could use fixing. Fiscal responsibility is definitely necessary, and that brings with it the chance for the Scottish Parliament to actually control the economy anyway. |
That's not going to happen without independence.
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Aventinian
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| Maol.Chaluim wrote: | | Aventinian wrote: | | The Scottish Parliament is young, has only been through two terms and has had the same Executive for its entire history. You can hardly judge devolution based on the past eight years performance. |
Obvioulsy, but at the same time, given current powers, there's next to nothing any Scottish government can do improve the economy, even if we had a centre-right, pro-business coalition at Holyrood. |
Oh, it can have some effect, I think it's responsible for a lot of the red tape these days, plus it runs like likes of Scottish Enterprise (poorly at present) whose impact is not to be underestimated.
But I do partially take your point.
| Quote: | | That's not going to happen without independence. |
Well I don't think independence is going to happen, so we're at loggerheads on that point.
It could and should happen. That's what's important. What is the standard thinking now can change very quickly - if the Nats win a significant number of seats, then it might galvanise the UK Government to act on this matter.
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Economist
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| Aventinian wrote: | Well I don't think independence is going to happen, so we're at loggerheads on that point.
It could and should happen. That's what's important. What is the standard thinking now can change very quickly - if the Nats win a significant number of seats, then it might galvanise the UK Government to act on this matter. |
As I've said before any kind of fiscal independence, would lead to the rapid deterioration of the British state, without the need for a referendum. It really puzzles me why people can't see this. The UK (unlike other countries such as the US, Canada, Australia etc) is not set up to have a dual fiscal system, or even at least give partial fiscal autonomy to Scotland. It would be different if the UK was beginning to "form its state" and coalesce towards a federation - but we'd be doing the opposite and that would be a terrifically difficult thing to do.
The closest approximation, I can see to this is Belgium, which opted to become a federation back in 1993, with such kind of arrangements - and that was largely to appease nationalist sentiment in Flanders, and far from resolving such nationalist tendencies it only exacerbated them.
In the UK's instance it would lead to huge problems. Firstly as anyone worth their salt will tell you, taxation and spending is inextricably linked with the Welfare state. It is the largest chunk of "total" government spending in Scotland. You can't make Scotland autonomous and not give it control of the Welfare State ie pensions, benefits and unemployment insurance. That would in, itself be a huge devolution of power and would be unprecedented. The reason that we would need to control this is because if a Scottish government varied taxes, relative to rUK, that would have a huge knock on effect of monies available for the "pot" of spending on the Welfare State.
You could say, well we'll just assign a specific tax to cover Scotland's share of the Welfare State, which is reserved to UK level - say Income Tax. But Income Tax receipts from Scotland, in themselves are not enough to cover such a huge expenditure - indeed no single tax is big enough to cover this expenditure. And even so Income Tax is a huge instrument of macroeconomic policy, that you couldn't imagine a Scottish government without. You could keep Income Tax and National Insurance to cover it (which it would). But seeing as these are the two single biggest revenue generators in Scotland, keeping them reserved to Westminster would run contrary to the idea of fiscal autonomy, and make a mockery of the concept of the Scottish Government and Parliament being more responsible for the money it raises.
Then there is everything else that would need to be covered, like defence, foreign affairs - and that would be about it. The only way to get round this is to devolve all taxes to Scotland, and let the Scottish Government determine how much subvention it provides to cover things like defence and foreign affairs. But.....hang on a minute....is that not just the same as independence? Why couldn't a Scottish Government control things like foreign affairs, without paying London to provide it for us.
This is why even if the SNP don't win in May or get a referendum, there isn't any other way out of the devolution debacle, apart from independence. Which the "enlightened minds" of recent months have already worked out. Yes, whilst Gordon Brown is Prime Minister (Boo) the Union will probably still exist (but be on its last legs) but after that, whatever government is at Westminster, won't feel so inclined to put the preservation of the Union at the head of its priorities. I just don't think the political willpower at Westminster will be such to warrant fiscal autonomy to Scotland.
Whatever way you look at it, IMHO. The UK is screwed. The point is we cannot disentangle the fiscal state we have, currently, with all the taxes we have currently, to provide for a system of fiscal federalism.
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Economist
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I've seen a few studies which advocate fiscal autonomy to Scotland, most are pessimistic about the prospects and most err on the side of caution - ie they devolve a few non-descript taxes to Scotland like Fuel Duty and maybe Corporation Tax - but few consider biggies like Income Tax and VAT, and that IMO runs contrary to the spirit of proper fiscal autonomy. Most studies still require there to be a "subsidy" from Westminster - a "soft budget constraint", indicating that fiscal autonomy can't be properly done. Indeed one of my Professors at University co-authored a report on Fiscal Autonomy for Scotland - and admitted to us, that whilst it sounded superficially attractive to implement - it could never be done because there is no mechanism for any of it to happen!
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