Scottish independence: Treasury says No vote pays

A NEW Treasury factsheet claims that household bills and other essential costs will be kept lower by voting against independence, the UK Government has said.

The Treasury claims Scots would be £1,400 better off a year with a No vote. Picture: TSPL

With Yes campaign leaflets promising independence will put more money in people’s pockets, the Treasury has reponded with a factsheet detailing how everyday spending will be “safeguarded” by a No vote in September.

The document, one of a series aimed at providing people with information ahead of the referendum, comes after a Treasury report said every Scot would be £1,400 better off each year by remaining in the union.

The factsheet highlights benefits such as tax-free child support for working parents, a freeze on fuel duty, UK ISA tax-free limits and the raised earning threshold for income tax.

It also says mortgage interest costs could rise by £1,700 in an independent Scotland, on the first year of repayments alone for a 75 per cent loan-to-value mortgage on the average Scottish house, while energy bills could be up to £189 lower in the UK.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said: “I am determined that people have access to the full facts needed to make one of the most important decisions in Scottish history.

“People are rightly concerned about how their families’ finances could be affected by independence.

“That’s why we’re publishing ‘In the Know’ which sets out for families how essential costs like housing and energy bills are kept lower in the UK.”

But the Scottish Government insisted that Scots would benefit from Scotland being one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

A spokesman for SNP Finance Secretary John Swinney said: “Scotland is one of the wealthiest countries per head in the world but we the need the powers of independence to make sure that wealth is properly shared and to build a fairer society.

“No one can trust a word the Treasury say after they were last week caught red-handed trying to cook the books on an independent Scotland’s finances – they should apologise to the respected academic they misrepresented and withdraw their bogus figures.”