It doesn’t add up

According the Scottish Government’s latest figures, total public expenditure in Scotland was £65.2 billion.

That includes our schools, hospitals and paying our  pensioners.

Total income from Scotland (including a geographical share of North Sea revenue as calculated by the SNP) was £53.1bn. That’s a whopping £12bn gap, which is currently plugged  by the block grant from  Westminster.

If those of us in Scotland go it alone, we’ll have to fill that gap ourselves.

We know that oil sea revenue is declining (we now produce 1.4 million barrels per day down from 4.5 million in 1999).

Many UK-focused financial firms will leave Scotland in the event of a Yes vote as roughly nine out of ten of their customers are south of the Border. So that’ll mean fewer businesses paying Scottish tax.

Cutting Trident will only save £163 million a year (SNP figures), which won’t make a dent in the £12bn gap.

Scotland may be a comparatively rich country but that does not mean money grows on  trees.

If we want to keep public spending the same we will need to raise the equivalent of an extra £4,653 in tax from every existing income tax payer in Scotland (we have 2.6 million income taxpayers, so half of our  population).

If the reverse was true and we’d be better off financially with a Yes vote, then again the decision to vote Yes would be just as easy.

Sadly, there’s been so much spin and obfuscation that many don’t seem to understand the arguments for or against.

In my mind though it is clear, but the Yes campaign’s spin doctors are successfully piping our economy off a cliff.

Hugo Cannon

Glencairn Crescent

Edinburgh