Scotland’s influence on Thursday’s AV referendum is not the only reason why we should take notice of this week’s election north of the border. Apart from putting Labour’s apparent revival under Ed Miliband into context – it appears to be heading for a heavy defeat at the hands of Alex Salmond’s Scottish National Party – it is also an object lesson in politicians making promises they will not be able to keep.
For voters in England, Scotland is an enigma. Two Scottish run banks, Royal Bank of Scotland and Halifax Bank of Scotland, played a huge role in Britain’s financial crisis. Both had to be rescued by taxpayers, the latter after a shotgun marriage to Lloyds Bank. Yet when taxpayers look at Scotland they see a country where prescriptions are free and the only European Union students charged for their university education are from other parts of Britain.
They also see a country where identifiable public spending per head is a fifth above English levels. Thursday’s election, you might think, will change all that and be fought on competing visions of managing austerity. But Mr Salmond is heading for victory on the basis of a manifesto filled with unashamedly populist policies.
The SNP has promised an election giveaway despite knowing the coffers are bare. It includes council tax frozen for a further five years, no water rates rises for two years, the continuation of free prescription charges, no university tuition fees and the promise of no compulsory redundancies in the public sector.
Mr Salmond has come up with a series of apparently ingenious ideas for avoiding fiscal austerity. In the end, however, they add up to more borrowing to support a larger welfare state. But the SNP leader is an economist and even he cannot make Scotland immune from the laws of economics. There is a lesson here for the rest of Britain. All the leading Scottish parties are fighting the election with manifestoes that do not fully add up. The Centre for Public Policy for Regions warned the electorate to be sceptical. Cuts cannot be avoided, even if the politicians will seek to blame them on Westminster.
There is a lesson, too, for Labour. Scotland’s election is a two-horse race between Labour and the SNP, a choice between the ineffective left and the nationalist left. Labour is losing this battle, and the endorsements of Scotland’s business community, to the SNP. The party’s economic message under Mr Milliband is no more credible nationally. To be fair, Britain’s 2010 general election was fought on platforms of fiscal unreality. This time the people of Scotland deserve more honesty about what lies in store. They are not getting it.
[...] Posted by englishwarrior Scotland’s influence on Thursday’s AV referendum is not the only reason why we should take notice of this week’s election north of the border. Apart from putting Labour’s apparent revival under Ed Miliband into context – it appears to be heading for a heavy defeat at the hands of Alex Salmond’s Scottish National Party – it is also an object lesson in politicians making promises they will not be able to keep. For voters in England, Scotland is an … Read More [...]
By: SCOTLAND NEEDS TO BE TOLD THE TRUTH (Excerpt from Sunday Times Editorial) (via The Justice for England Blog) « English Warrior on May 3, 2011
at 11:30 am
This article is establishment speak.
Go for democracy in England; demand your independence and the first thing that will go is the stupid expenditure on vanity imperial projects.
Once you have done that, you’ll know how much Scotland has been subsidising Westminster.
NB -note Westminster not England, the people there are as badly served.
By: John Souter on May 3, 2011
at 11:51 am
Indeed John, this article seems to be a demand that Scotland should be run as badly as England. Surely the solution is for the English people to be told the truth by thier incompetent politicians.
By: Kevin Clark on May 3, 2011
at 3:34 pm
i read this comment with distain scotland has been subsidising westminster what a joke its us english who are subsidising the scottish get your facts right
By: brian higginson on May 3, 2011
at 7:12 pm
John, you know the English are never asked how they want to be governed. Only Scotland and (to a lesser extent) Wales have that privilege.
We are dependent upon you guys making the right decision. Go for independence, we’re all rooting for you down here!
By: TH on May 4, 2011
at 6:16 am
Wales and Northern Ireland also have free prescriptions. Why jut go after Scotland? I’m Scottish (though I live in England) and find this article offensive. Education isn’t free either. All of my friends who went to university are in debt, and to suggest it was the two Scottish banks that “played a huge role in Britain’s financial crisis” just gors to show you know nothing about finance. Ever hard of the sub prime market in America? Or the fact Labour were in power and bleed the country dry. Quit writing, you know nothing about what you have written.
By: Catherine on May 4, 2011
at 1:08 pm
Catherine – a few points.
Firstly, we did not write this article – The Sunday Times did and published it last Sunday. We have merely uploaded it as is. So your comment ‘Quit writing, you know nothing about what you have written’ should be directed four square at them, if that is your opinion. In Scotland, they have abolished tuition fees. If your friends are Scottish and live in Scotland and are in debt then that indebtedness has not arisen via a tuition fee bill – unlike a student from England attending an English uni’ or indeed a Scottish uni’ – they will be more often than not be charged 9 grand a year – 27 grand for a 3 year course.
Lastly, I am sorry if you find the (Sunday Times) article offensive – but when Labour’s madcap devolution plan was brought into play without the English, I and many others down here found that highly offensive – and continue to do so years after the event., (Not to mention all the goodies that we don’t have because there is no one fighting our corner).
By: admin on May 4, 2011
at 1:28 pm