SNP’s claims would make Trump blush – Ian Murray

Being in the UK is worth an extra £1941 of spending per person in Scotland. Without being part of the UK, spending on our health service would be decimated, writes Ian Murray MP.

The NHS in Scotland’s annual budget is £14.3bn, while Scotland's public spending deficit is £15.1bn (Picture: Michael Gillen)

I wish I didn’t have to engage in the annual ritual that follows the publication of GERS data.

It would be much simpler if the figures produced by the Scottish Government’s civil servants, backed by the Office for Statistics Regulation, for the ‘Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland’ report were just accepted by everyone as concrete proof that devolution works well for Scotland.

GERS is something the SNP used to swear by but unfortunately, SNP politicians choose now to engage in a bizarre attempt to undermine the data produced by their own government with a series of wild claims that would make Donald Trump blush.

Their denial of basic economic facts is disingenuous to the public and cannot go unchallenged.

Nor can the SNP’s tired refrain that to scrutinise the nationalists’ economic blueprint for separation is ‘talking Scotland down’. I get that they want separation from the UK but we can’t allow a debate where basic and accepted mathematics is deliberately dismissed.

Actually, GERS, is about talking Scotland up.

We get asked for the positive case for Scotland’s place in the UK: well here it is – the NHS.

So let’s start with some facts.

The total annual budget for Scotland’s NHS is £14.3 billion. That’s part of the £81bn of public spending in Scotland by both governments, including devolved responsibilities such as the NHS and UK responsibilities reserved such as the enormous state pension bill. In total this public spending makes up 9.2 per cent of UK spending.

But the other side of the coin is income. Last year, that totalled just £66bn in Scotland, or eight per cent of the UK total.The gap between income and spending is now £15bn. Or equivalent to the entire cost of running the Scottish NHS for a year. Without being part of the UK, spending on our health service would be decimated. That’s what is at stake here.

It’s a simple fact that being in the UK is worth the equivalent of an extra £1941 of spending per person in Scotland.

The SNP argues that GERS doesn’t provide a long-term picture of the finances of an independent Scotland.

Of course it doesn’t, but it shows the long term starting point, which is why some much-needed honesty from the nationalists is overdue: how much would you strip from NHS Lothian to balance the books? Which schools in Edinburgh would be cut? Where will the money come from to plug the gap.

The SNP also argues that every country is borrowing more money right now to cope with the coronavirus crisis, pushing deficits up. Of course they are. But the UK Government and the Bank of England has the strength of the internationally recognised pound behind it when it borrows on the markets. The idea that a new Scottish state, with no credit rating while ditching the pound, could get the same beneficial rates is imaginary. Especially when the SNP can’t even explain what that new currency would be.

The nationalists are using tactics straight from the Farage Brexit playbook in the hope that people will ignore the experts, such as the respected economists at the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

But these facts really matter to you: they dictate how many nurses and teachers we have and how much elderly Scots receive in their pension.

If we really must have a debate about Scotland’s constitutional future, let’s at least have some honesty from those proposing the break-up of the UK. Wouldn’t it be better though if we could instead focus on what really matters to people: jobs; the NHS; and schools?

Next year’s election shouldn’t be about a referendum on having a referendum; that would be a distraction from what really matters.

Bringing people together so that we can rebuild following the Covid-19 crisis and invest in the public services we all rely on.

That is what Labour will focus on in next year’s election campaign. And it’s what the SNP should focus on too, but I doubt it.Our NHS is too precious to do anything else.

Ian Murray is the Labour MP for Edinburgh South

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism.

Subscribe to the Edinburgh Evening News online and enjoy unlimited access to trusted, fact-checked news and sport from Edinburgh and the Lothians. Visit www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/subscriptions now to sign up.

By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Joy Yates

Editorial Director