Public Finance
Going for growth – or broke?
Author / Creator: David Eiser
Media type: Article
Date published: 2022
Reaction to the Tax, Stamp Duty, Investment proposals in September 2022 UK budget.
Scotland is Not Subsidised by Taxpayers in the rest of the UK
Author / Creator: Mammoth Whale
Date published: 2021
Scotland is not subsidised by other regions of the UK – this is an indisputable accounting fact.
The “Fiscal Deficit” in Wales: why it does not represent an accurate picture of the opening public finances of an Independent Wales
Author / Creator: John Doyle
Media type: Report
Date published: 2022
The UK government statement of the financial deficit of an independent Wales is grossly exaggerated.
Scotland’s Finances – The Truth
Author / Creator: Business for Scotland
Media type: Blog
Date published: 2022
There is no set of accounts that tells us how an independent Scotland’s economy would fare, nor what its finances would look like. Not yet anyway.
Hiding the Truth
Author / Creator: John Jappy
Media type: Video
Date published: 2014
The videos of John Jappy and they should be compulsory viewing for every Scot
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Author / Creator: John Jappy
Media type: Blog
Date published: 2014
Jappy was among the first to scotch the myth that Scotland was subsidised by London. In truth it was, and is the reverse, Scotland pays more to England’s coffers than it receives in annual allowance.
The self-financing state: An institutional analysis
Author / Creator: Josh Ryan-Collins
Media type: Working Paper
Date published: 2022
"The UK Government creates new money and purchasing power when it undertakes expenditure, rather than spending being financed by taxation from, or debt issuance to, the private sector."
What Scotland can learn from Irish independence: it won’t control interest rates and inequality will widen
Author / Creator: Eoin McLaughlin
Media type: Article
Date published: 2022
Managing the transition [to independence] won’t be straightforward. Ireland’s experience shows that the need for fiscal discipline may be politically costly and adjustment may not be shared equally.
Essential pre-budget reading – the 7 key messages from our budget report
Author / Creator: David Eiser
Media type: report
Date published:
The Scottish government will publish its budget for 2022/23. It will be the first budget of this session of parliament. Kate Forbes’ third budget in charge of the Scottish Government’s finances will arguably the most difficult she has faced. The Scottish government will have more resources at its disposal than in 2019/20. But the challenges facing public services and the wider economy are far more acute now than they were then.
Kate’s budget blues
Author / Creator: David Eiser
Media type: Article
Date published:
“A core resource block grant in 2022/23 that is 8% higher than pre-pandemic might sound generous. But to deal with the pandemic’s legacy and underlying public services pressures it is anything but. Kate Forbes’ third budget may well be her most challenging.”
The Politics of Scotland’s Public Finances
Author / Creator: David Heald
Date published: 2020
The Barnett formula is a political convention reducing overt political conflict with the UK while maintaining fiscal autonomy.
Scotland the Brief
Author / Creator: Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp
Media type: book
Date published: 2020
All you need to know about Scotland's economy, its finances, independence and Brexit.
Nationalism and the politics of austerity: comparing Catalonia, Scotland, and Québec
Author / Creator: Daniel Beland
Media type: Academic Paper
Date published:
This analysis of the impact of austerity on nationalism stresses the role of blame as it interacts with political institutions and fiscal pressures.
Minimizing the Cost of Union: Fiscal Autonomy and the Case of Scotland
Author / Creator: Paul Hallwood
Media type: Academic Paper
Date published: 2020
Argues for federalism in public funding where taxation is devolved. This would improve the link between public finance and democracy.
Ambiguous no more: Time to de-mystify the Barnett Formula
Author / Creator: J. R. Cuthbert
Media type: Academic Paper
Date published: 2020
The overall effect of the new Barnett funding system is to place Scotland in a vulnerable position, where it is at much greater risk of falling into a cycle of economic decline relative to the rest of the UK.
The Barnett Formula
Author / Creator: Matthew Keep
Media type: Briefing paper
Date published:
The Barnett formula calculates the annual change in the block grant. The formula doesn’t determine the total size of the block grant just the yearly change. For devolved services, the Barnett formula aims to give each country the same pounds-per-person change in funding.
Barnett formula
Author / Creator: Wikipedia
Media type: Wikipedia
Date published: 2021
The Barnett formula is a mechanism used by the Treasury in the UK to automatically adjust the amounts of public expenditure allocated to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to reflect changes in spending levels allocated to public services in England. The formula applies to a large proportion, but not the
Parting Ways How Scotland and the remaining UK could negotiate the separation of debts and assets
Author / Creator: Craig Dalzell
Media type: Policy Paper
Date published: 2020
Upon declaring independence, the public assets must be divided by sensitive negotiations.
Scotland spends 20% more per head on public services than England
Author / Creator: Claire Milne
Media type: Fact check
Date published:
It’s correct that spending on public services in Scotland is 20% higher per head than in England. But this money comes from the block grant from the UK Treasury, rather than from England specifically. Also the only areas of England that are not in deficit according to this are London and the South east of England.
Would an independent Scotland have to keep the pound and cut public spending?
Author / Creator: Joël Reland
Media type: Fact check
Date published:
Public spending in an independent Scotland could continue to grow. This does depend on sufficient growth in the economy after independence.