The next Scottish government will need to make “really difficult” spending decisions soon after taking power, including tackling its large public sector pay bill, senior economists have said.
Economists with the Fraser of Allander Institute, at the University of Strathclyde, believe the manifestos published by Scotland’s political parties during the campaign failed to tell voters about the true scale of the challenge.
Because the Fraser laddies maintain a connection with reality they will be dismissed as neoliberals and anyway, it’s all the fault of the English. Obviously.
And with someone like that to blame of course everyone’s spent buckets in order to buy votes.
The Scots and Welsh parliaments are just playing at home rule because they know that daddy and mummy – England – will always bail them out.
Independence for England when?
I hope Reform commit to abolishing the Barnett formula. That would really concentrate their minds a bit. To think that I actually voted for Joel Barnett once, but I was a callow youth then.
Good idea but unlikely seeing as how popular they appear to be in Wales.
It’s not just the public sector pay. Their defined benefit pension schemes are an extremely generous unfunded future liability. Increases now are not just compounded till their employment ends, they are compounded till they die.
I’ve not been able to find out the size of this unfunded liability for Scotland alone as it doesn’t figure in published balance sheets. Fiscal risks from public service pensions – Office for Budget Responsibility
“… it’s all the fault of the English…”
Got it in one – the universal overriding principle of SNP thought.
“… it’s all the fault of the English…”
Hold on, which country’s king took over which country in 1603?
. . . and sent my people to Ulster?
Life for the SNP is really simple:
Win the elections again: keep spending to provide Bread and Circuses for their loyal followers, and pretend it’s All Good.
Lose the elections: Scream their heads off crying “Foul!!” and “Tole’ Youze Dey Wuz Eviiilll!!” at any government trying to fix the mess they made from the opposition benches.
Standard Socialist protocol, not limited to Scotland…. Toddler logic combined with seagull management.
Blah blah blah. Government spends more than what it makes. Someday, somebody will address it. This time is different.
will need to make “really difficult” spending decisions
Journalist projection. “Let’s cut this and this.” How difficult is that?
They don’t seem to mention him on their own website or the wikipedia page, but it turns out Fraser of Allander was the House of Fraser bloke.