2020-21 Gers figures for Scotland

[islaydarkblue]

I am astounded that there has been no topic about the latest Gers figures which were announced last Wednesday but sadly with no fanfare from Scottish Government ministers.
The figures are horrendous with Scotland’s notional deficit more than doubling from £15.8 billion in 2019-20 to £36.3billion in 2020-21.
This has resulted in the deficit increasing to 22.2% of GDP from 8.8% in 2019-20. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/s...020-21-figures
The Gers deficit for the whole of the U.K. including Scotland was 14.2% with the deficit for the rest of the U.K. excluding Scotland even lower than 14.2%.
Kate Forbes the Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Finance in a statement said that the Scottish Government need more powers to deal with this deficit.
Goodness knows what powers she wants.
If it is the power to increase taxation then more businesses will leave Scotland resulting in lower Tax and National Insurance being paid and a higher Gers deficit in future years.
New members of the EU are required to have a deficit of less than 3% of GDP.

[noahrab]

I am astounded that there has been no topic about the latest Gers figures which were announced last Wednesday but sadly with no fanfare from Scottish Government ministers.
The figures are horrendous with Scotland’s notional deficit more than doubling from £15.8 billion in 2019-20 to £36.3billion in 2020-21.
This has resulted in the deficit increasing to 22.2% of GDP from 8.8% in 2019-20. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/s...020-21-figures
The Gers deficit for the whole of the U.K. including Scotland was 14.2% with the deficit for the rest of the U.K. excluding Scotland even lower than 14.2%.
Kate Forbes the Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Finance in a statement said that the Scottish Government need more powers to deal with this deficit.
Goodness knows what powers she wants.
If it is the power to increase taxation then more businesses will leave Scotland resulting in lower Tax and National Insurance being paid and a higher Gers deficit in future years.
New members of the EU are required to have a deficit of less than 3% of GDP.

The answer is independence.

[parcbara]

The answer is independence.

Scarily, that seems to be her answer. Again, setting politics aside, separation would be an economic disaster for working Scots.

[BCram]

I think the answer is for the SNP to say how they will use additional powers and what they hope to achieve. Seems to me that if they could demonstrate that they can run our country without any budget deficit that would clearly show people like me who doubt the whole concept of independence that there is another way and it does not lead to financial ruin.

[islaydarkblue]

The answer is independence.

That would be a disaster for everyone in Scotland. Nicola’s independent Scotland would not be able to join the EU unless there was some very creative accounting where they would have to ‘cook the books’ to get their deficit down to less that 3% of GDP.
The last thing the rich EU member states such as Germany and France want is another lame duck country with a financial.deficit like Greece to join the EU.

[islaydarkblue]

Scarily, that seems to be her answer. Again, setting politics aside, separation would be an economic disaster for working Scots.

That is Nicola’s answer time something goes wrong with the devolved matters the Scottish Government are responsible for. She is a ‘one trick’ pony.

[BCram]

That would be a disaster for everyone in Scotland. Nicola’s independent Scotland would not be able to join the EU unless there was some very creative accounting where they would have to ‘cook the books’ to get their deficit down to less that 3% of GDP.
The last thing the rich EU member states such as Germany and France want is another lame duck country with a financial.deficit like Greece to join the EU.

Islay, I think the Germans and the French would take a very supportive attitude to an application from an independent Scotland. Think of the trouble they could cause with border issues. They have had a field day with NI and surely they would expect exactly the same arrangements between Scotland and England.

[Returnofrros]

In 15 years time SNP will still be running Scotland badly and Scotland will still be part of the union.

[parcbara]

In 15 years time SNP will still be running Scotland badly and Scotland will still be part of the union.

I would agree with that.

[Mudskipper]

In 15 years time SNP will still be running Scotland badly and Scotland will still be part of the union.

What restriction level will we be in….