Scot Gov Has Done Well

I was on the Viking Saturn, a beautiful ship with around 900 passengers that sailed up Norway's West coast from Bergen to the Arctic Circle and back down to Shetland, Orkney and Rosyth and then down to Greenwich. The purpose and highlight of the trip was finally seeing the Neolithic village at Skara Brae, which was more awe-inspiring than I had ever imagined and in a most incredibly beautiful beach setting. I will never forget it. The inhabitants of Skara Brae lived there continuously for more than 500 years, yet no-one knows where they came from or where they went. They constructed their homes out of local Orkney stone and connected them by means of passageways, the better to protect themselves from the weather. The village predates Stonehenge and even the pyramids. It's 5,000 years old. It was an amazing and moving experience.

There are remains of seven original homes and a workshop which still show quite a lot of detail, including a sort of dresser and bed areas and a hearth. All the homes were identical, suggesting an egalitarian society. Archaeologists think that a community of 200+ people lived there. The village was discovered as a result of a particularly vicious storm years ago and more of it was lost to the sea or the weather.  The remaining walls are quite low, so a replica house and its neighbor have been constructed so that you can see what the original walls would have looked like as well as the warren-like construction. 

www.gettyimages.com/photos/skara-brae

It has been on the Forth around 6 times this year.  Here it is anchored of Newhaven just of the Port of Leith.  It probably saved around £10,000 in fees parked in a rubbish spot.  I just arrived home as the sun was setting  when I took this photograph. It is 3 or 4 miles away.  I hope you visited the Italian chapel, the Churchill barriers etc in the Orkneys.  I have been there many times.  The Royal Navy should be stationed in Scapa Flow in the Orkney's.  That is the danger on the Northern approaches and the GIUK gap.  As Russian subs slink in and out undetected.  Not propping up the local economy on the south coast. 

Scotland didn’t get anything back under Barnett. Rather, the Scottish Government received a budgeted amount of £43 billion in the form of the block grant (the amount of which involves the application of the Barnett formula) for the current financial year from HM Treasury to spend on devolved matters. The money it receives is HM Treasury money passed to ScotGov essentially for it to spend as it chooses within the parameters of the devolved remit within or on behalf of Scotland on HM Government’s behalf.

i can answer where the deficit is but you asked me to give you a Yes or No answer and neither Yes nor No is the answer to where the deficit is. I explained that quite clearly above but you obviously have not been able to understand that. That’s an example of what I was talking about when I said that you are too thick to deal with.

You did not ask me if Scots ( or Scotland) paid their way. You asked ‘’ where is the deficit’’ which, as I explained twice in my last post and once again above in this post, is not a question that can be answered with a Yes or No answer, which is what you asked for. That is another example of you being too thick to deal with and a complete waste of time to deal with too.

You ask me to point out the deficit. The deficit is there to be seen in the annual GERS figures, the underlying amount of which is circa £25 billion per annum..

And, for the last time, ScotGov does not underspend. Not only do the figures show this but ScotGov itself tells us thisin the very document that you routinely post in support of your false claim that ScotGov always underspends. That you repeatedly do this despite what that document says and despite what it shows and says being repeatedly pointed out to you is further evidence of how thick and how out of your depth you are.

You know I sometime wonder if you live on planet earth.  I just said under barnett Scotland  received back some £40 billion of its own money. . Then you went of on denial. Now you are saying it did. That money matey is Scotland's own money. It did not come from your tooth fairy.   Why do you go of fiscal diarrhoea. Let me explain nice and simple to you again. The Barnett formula is a mechanism used by the Treasury in the United Kingdom to automatically adjust the amounts of public expenditure allocated to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to reflect changes in spending levels allocated to public services in England, as appropriate.It also dictates the Scottish Block grant. How nice. England telling the Scots how much of their own money they are going to get. As a percentage of what bankrupt England needs. With the caveat. If the Scotgov ran out of money.  Tough.However when bankrupt England needs extra money. It gerts it.   The Scots pay it back. Why do you insist on waffling garbage.  You know damn fine it is Scotland own money and it does not cost the Englsih tax payer one penny. That block grant because of austerity is decimated to feed England. 

I see you are still waffling fiscal garbage.  Yes I did on numerous occasion not only ask you, but told you the Scots pay there way in the UK.  And i am still asking where this so called deficit is.  And yes despite your waffle the Scottish government has underspent every year since it took power.  Where is the deficit.  As you continually ignore bankrupt England's massive debt and deficit.  And the documents states very clearly that the Scotgov has underspent every year since it took power. So speaking of being thick. You explain to me how the Scots Gov underspent figures.  Translates to you it did not underspend.  .Figures are below.   Which part are you not reading.  Oh look what the figures say.. 


Total Cash Underspend

Year    £ million  Percentage

2018-19 (449) 1.4%
2017-18 (453) 1.4%
2016-17 (191) 0.6%
2015-16 (155) 0.5%
2014-15 (204) 0.7%
2013-14 (176) 0.6%
2012-13 (179) 0.6%
2011-12 (179) 0.6%
2010-11 (12) 0.0%
2009-10 (119) 0.4%
2008-09 (124) 0.5%
2007-08 (42) 0.2%

Oh look it says Total cash Underspend. Jings I wonder what that means. You are beyond sense, and deny the evidence of your own eyes.  What chapter of the Emperor's Clothes are you on.  You know I am listening to a Westminster Unionist Tory utter waffling  wanker. on the telly.   Who's party have raised tax to the highest level in 70 years. Ranting that another Unionist bunch of unionist Labour wankers if they get power will raise tax. The havering slastering drivel and verbal diarrhoea, is like you. A race to the bottom.  You have just spewed clueless utter garbage. Till now the preserve of Mr Stupid. For 2023,that figure of underspend is £347 million How did you get to a position of such fecking utter idiotic denial.  

In response to Jaydee’s ‘’ words of wisdom’’  above :-

‘’ You know I sometime wonder if you live on planet earth. I just said under barnett Scotland received back some £40 billion of its own money. . Then you went of on denial. Now you are saying it did. That money matey is Scotland's own money ‘’

No, I did not say that Scotland got any amount of its own money back. It is not Scotland’s own money, therefore Scotland does not get its own money back. It is the UK’s money, held and utilised by HM Treasury.  The money that Scotland benefits from in terms of public expenditure (either directly on reserved matters by HM Government or through the generous annual block grant provided by HM Government to ScotGov to spend on devolved matters on HM Government’s behalf) thankfully has nothing whatsoever to do with the amount of money contributed in Scottish revenues to HM Treaury’s coffers.



‘’ The Barnett formula is a mechanism used by the Treasury in the United Kingdom to automatically adjust the amounts of public expenditure allocated to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to reflect changes in spending levels allocated to public services in England, as appropriate.It also dictates the Scottish Block grant.’’

That is not accurate. The Barnett formula is used in the computation of the annual block grant but this is not used to automatically adjust the amount of public expenditure in Scotland. Rather, it is used to determine the amount of money to be made available to ScotGov for spending on devolved matters only, not to automatically adjust the total amount of public expenditure allocated to Scotland. Indeed,there is no total amount of public expenditure allocated to Scotland at budget or implementation stage; the only attempt at allocating total public expenditure on a regional basis is undertaken retrospectively and only for the purposes of GERS reports.




‘’ How nice. England telling the Scots how much of their own money they are going to get. As a percentage of what bankrupt England needs ‘’

England does not tell the Scots how much money they are going to get, it is not Scotland’s own money but the UK’s money, and England is not bankrupt; if it were then Scotland and every other part of the country would be too.





‘’ You know damn fine it is Scotland own money and it does not cost the Englsih tax payer one penny ‘’

it is all the UK’s money and, as Scotland raises circa £25 billion less in revenues each year than it benefits from in UK public expenditure and Wales and NI similarly benefit then it follows that the monies that fund this come from revenues raised by England so, in effect, it costs the English taxpayer an underlying amount of circa £25 billion per annum to fund public services for the benefit of us Scots.




‘’ Oh look it says Total cash Underspend. Jings I wonder what that means ‘’

It means what it says i.e. total cash underspend. This means the amount of cash available for spending in that financial period that was not spent in that financial period. It does not mean the amount of that particular financial period’s block grant that was not spent in that financial period and which is never to be spent, which is what you obviously think it means. I have explained that to you on a number of occasions but, as you once again demonstrate here, you are too thick and far too far out of your depth to understand - and even if you were capable of understanding you are incapable of accepting anything that contradicts your Indy obsessed narrative so you are almost certainly incapable of accepting it even if you could understand it.



‘’ You know I am listening to a Westminster Unionist Tory utter waffling wanker. on the telly’’

If you are watching The Sunday Show you will have heard someone from the IFS say very much as I say and which is glaringly obvious other than to the reality denying Indy zealots and bigots amongst us i.e. that Scotland enjoys a higher level of expenditure on public services than it raises in revenues and that independence would lead to deep and prolonged austerity resulting in tax hikes and public sector cuts. You will presumably also have watched Richard Thompson, the SNP representative on the show, completely fail to address questions put to him by Martin Guissler on that point because he has no credible answer to give other than to concede the truth of the matter - and telling the truth about the economic and fiscal carnage of independence would never do, would it?