WGPlus (Archive)

Editorial comment:  Forget UK Brexit, Has Scotland got a plan?

The SNP has been much in the news recently demanding that the UK Government spell out its plans for Brexit, yet (as has been pointed out also by others), it promised to be running as an independent country within 18 months of ‘winning’ a referendum.

There was no ‘certainty’ then about the ‘deal’ it would make with the rUK during that negotiation period, let alone the EU and it had no agreed currency.  Even now it appears that it cannot even manage the transfer of some social benefit powers that they were given in the Scotland Act and wants to delay the transfer by 3 years.

Telegraph:  SNP Social Security Minister denies ducking welfare powers ~ Well we (& others) did warn the SNP about the difficulties of fully implementing new ICT systems

The SNP ‘demands’ that the Scottish vote in the Brexit referendum (majority for ‘Remain’) gives them certain ‘rights & powers’ when it comes to Brexit negotiations, yet when it comes to the funding of their approx. £15bn annual public sector overspend, they ‘demand’ that the UK funds it through the Barnett formula.

IPPR Scotland:  Hammond’s Brexit black hole could leave Scotland £1.3bn worse off ~ IFS:  Scotland’s fiscal position: an updated assessment ~ Independence for Scotland just doesn't add up ~ Telegraph:  Scots enjoy £1,460 more public spending each despite oil crash ~ IFS:  Scotland’s Fiscal Framework does not satisfy Smith’s “Taxpayer fairness” principle

Just as with the EU’s ‘Single Market’, one is either completely ‘in’ it, or one just has ‘access’ to it and the same goes for Scotland and the UK.  If the SNP want to continue to receive the public sector funding they currently get, they have to be wholly in the UK.  But if they are happy to be financially independent and possibly pay tariffs at a ‘hard’ rUK / Scotland border in a different currency and a fee to the EU for Single Market membership, then let the SNP say so and also publish their detailed plans for the Scottish voters to consider.

ScotGov:  Scotland must remain in EU single market ~ Gordon Brown tells Scots: UK's single market worth far more than EU's

Better still, why don’t they just concentrate on implementing all they additional powers they have recently been given in the Scotland Act!

New powers, new Scotland? How the Scottish parliament could use its new tax & benefit responsibilities ~ Holyrood gains new powers under Scotland Act 2016 - BBC News
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