Scottish Funding

George · Scottish Funding

Well, were the SNP correct to suggest that Scotland 's funding would be unfairly squeezed by the chancellor? Not according to the BBC, where the funding was described by Brian Taylor as fair (twice).....of course Brian had to almost physically contort applying strict Barnet and Treasury rules in order to say this.

Brian did of course mention that Labour calculated the increase at 1.8% whereas the SNP calculations put it at 1.4%. Surprisingly he didn't actually say who was correct, although if you read his blog then it appears that the SNP are. This is apparently due to the baseline being recalculated. Now Labour do not contest this, they simply say that recalculations happen regularly. We are asked to believe that this recalculation happening in the initial months of a new SNP Government, and making the increase look bigger, is pure coincidence.

The BBC themselves describe the funding as a 'Boost for Scots'. They could have at least shown balance and used a less partisan headline. Of course which Scots this is a boost for they don't actually say.

Finally, Salmond himself has stated that the increase in the first year is actually less than 0.5%.

One question that I have is this:
What figure were Labour using in order to cost their own pre-election manifesto commitments? Can anyone shed light on this?

October1974

there will be a lot of spinning from all sides going on, that will make us all dizzy,

here is the SNP's news release

http://www.snp.org/press-releases...d-short-changed-by-london-labour/