The UK Government’s budget deficit for this year will reach 19 per cent of GDP for 2020/21, according to Chancellor Rishi Sunak. It’s worth reflecting on that figure in the context of the Scottish independence debate. For years, we have been told by opponents of independence that a prospective budget deficit in an independent Scotland […]
Fiscal Policy
Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s speech to the virtual Tory party conference yesterday was interesting because of the framing of his argument around public finances. “We have a sacred responsibility to future generations to leave the public finances strong, and through careful management of our economy, this Conservative Government will always balance the books,” he said. “If […]
“What is the point in us?”
In politics, the case rarely changes, only the basis for its justification. The economics of the union, for example, is made and re-made based on whatever policy the UK state happens to be pursuing at any given time. The ‘age of austerity’? Then focus on an independent Scotland’s prospective budget deficit, and suggest that a […]