The Scottish Government

Scotland's businesses and services would suffer if fiscal 'freedom' was brought in under the false premise that it would automatically lead to higher GDP. Scotland is part of the union, and its businesses need stabiilty and consistency in tax policies across the UK to prosper. Independence or increasing divergence from the UK would lead to more complexity, reduce efficiency and lead to gaps in expertise. In a global economy we cannot afford to put political romanticism before hard economic facts. Scotland needs a responsible devolved government that looks rationally at what's needed in tough economic times. It doesn't need constitutional change to prosper. The temptation of the Scottish parliament to over legislate needs to be curbed, as does the expense of constitutional change. We need fiscal stability and innovative thinking to kick start the economy within existing arrangements. The UK and Scottish Parlliament can serve Scotland well with existing powers.

Before expanded devolution takes place there should be constitutional aspects placed before the people of Scotland in referendums, yes - plural.

Perhaps one each year for ?, up to 3 questions per referendum - two set by the government, one open for the political activist unit that gathers the most verified signatures.

Keep the status quo until voted on. Referendums could set policy, monetary/health/military/monarchy etc.

To initiate meaningful change, the political parties in Scotland MUST have the trust of the electorate.
The simplest way to get this change is with a LEGALLY BINDING code of ethics placed onto elected and government officials.
It must stop conflicts of interest.

EG. Any elected politician is banned from interacting with any non governmental body for a period of 10 years after leaving office if they had any input whatsoever in any decisions made involving the private entity OR it’s affiliates.
Penalty? has to be double sided as in (for example) 75% of total net income of EACH party for 36? months.
In addition to corporate money confiscated there should be NO corporate immunity and the CEO of the corporation (who initiates the culture) also personally loses 75%? for the same period.
Same for corporations who flaunt Scots law.

Lobbying & Gifting to government or elected officials to be banned.
Same consequences.

All elections to be paid for from government funds - no private money allowed.
Every candidate gets the same amount - anyone can stand as a "funded" candidate as long as they can show they collected support in excess of 0.5% ? of eligible voters in the area by a set closing date - verifyable.
Electorial "pot" for the seat. divided by the amount of qualified contestants.
Keep the proportional representation aspect.

Government - expenditures constitutionally set - as a percentage of the average GDP of the previous 3? years.
MP salaries set at 50%(?) above the mean national wage of the same period, with an additional 10% per level for ministers - maximum of 4 levels?
Elected officials with less than 10 years in office get 50% salary for six months after leaving office or until new employment - whichever first.
After 10 years elected officials qualify for a pension.

Avoiding the "pigs at the trough "John Lewis" scenario - each elected official outside a set distance from the capitol gets a daily per diem and a set staff expense. There MUST be a verifiable business reason for each "claimed day" - expenses here would be tax free and have no restriction on use - other than salary.

It is ONLY with trust in those elected and attracting qualified electable candidates that ANY government can succeed. Term Limits for All (20 years?).

The ONLY question remaining - do our elected officials have the intestinal fortitude to place such restrictions upon themselves - and ANY elected official of the country of Scotland.

By doing so it would also remove the "John Lewis" exemption from Scots MP's in the Westminster Parliament

Scotland has all the attributes for economic success. We have an international brand and reputation in the global market. Well educated and skilled people in a prime location with an outstanding natural environment rich in natural resources. We also have a massive reservoir of emigrants to call upon. We have for the last 30 years been below the European average for economic growth and around 4 or 5 times lower than neighbouring Ireland. Remember that higher growth delivers higher revenue. Our potential to rival our European competitors is currently inhibited as the Westminster monetary policy is largely inappropriate for Scotland and we lack control of our business tax.

We suffer from having few direct routes to international markets and there is virtually no direct marketing of Scotland. There are too many exports at the moment going via England, a poor transport infrastructure coupled with a low share of UK government spend. The exchange rate is too high and we are being bled to death by the most expensive fuel prices in the world, (in a country that produces more oil than Kuwait). Oh, and interest rates are too high.

This all combines to keep us in a state of low growth and productivity, and Scottish companies become undervalued. This limits our growth capital, makes it harder for us to host head offices, we lose much of our talented young to emigration and the gravitational pull of London leading to skills shortages, (in a country that one of the finest higher education systems in the world including 3 of the worlds top 100 universities). These factors combine to inhibit our business birth rate, reduce our service sector and funnily enough make the low growth and productivity worse.

This all because we have limited powers to make the appropriate changes to how our economy needs to work.

Our fringe status within the UK leads to a loss of HQs and a lack of competitiveness. It is also perfectly evident that the Barnett rip off, uniform UK taxes and high local taxes will not serve to transform the Scottish economy. All this strangulation from Westminster is actually, in case you hadn’t noticed, disastrous for Scottish living standards and quality of life. With limited powers we have our hands very much tied to deal with the problems this creates for us. High unemployment, high instances of part-time work and short term contacts, self employment can be difficult. With low incomes and mismanaged public services and poor urban environments we have many people on poor diets, youngsters demotivated leading to high instances of drug and alcohol misuse leading to higher crime levels which leads to poor health and lower life expectancy. This keeps people dependent on the state and welfare dependence and reduces confidence which makes it harder to attract the inward investment we need.

This all stems from our limited powers. We need full financial independence to create the conditions for competitiveness, flexibility and growth and maximise our quality of life and life expectancy.

Full financial independence means more direct exports, better transport infrastructure, a strong branding and selling of the Scottish brand, a higher share of government spend and a competitive exchange rate. We are of course one of the world leaders in oil and so naturally we can afford ourselves affordable fuel. We can also set our corporation tax and Schedule D according to our particular requirements. All of these elements will provide a gravitational pull towards Scotland with a massively increased FDI (Foreign Direct Investment). With this comes higher growth and an increase in the value of Scottish companies with a growth in major and SME headquarters which brings with it the retention and return of our talent and makes all the skills we need available to us. This also increases our spend on research and development and grows our service sector and rejuvenates our business birth rate. As we climb higher and higher up the European GDP ladder we can look back at where we were and see that it really was complete lunacy to have not had that full financial independence all that time.

We need full independence, opportunity, participation, prosperity, wealth creation, fairness and re-distribution in our country. Without independence we will continue to have a continuous, gradual and relative economic decline. Independence is a platform for growth, recovery and prosperity. Because our current economic conditions are not right for us. We have low growth, a wealth gap and the associated economic and social consequences. Full financial independence is the solution to this core problem. Creating our enterprise economy and taking influence from similar nations like Iceland, Ireland, Norway etc we can earn our way to prosperity and better social outcomes. Only full financial independence can provide the conditions needed to produce dramatically better economic growth, living standards and prosperity. There is no credible alternative.

#72 Kev

You may want to read my post again. I never claimed to be Scottish and English, only Scottish. I also fail to see why you need to be independent to insist on being part of a nation called Scotland we already are! As I stated my children and grandchildren are also Scottish, as were my ancestors. Have you looked at a map lately?

Perhaps 'luxury' is the wrong term, but we do have the advantage of picking up the mantle of representing Scotland when it suits, as we can adopt the mantle of being British when we want to.

I don't know where you live but here in Fife we set our own holidays within a framework and time zone which suits us, not England. In fact isn't it true that we have a Glasgow fair, Edinburgh fair....

Can you be more specific as to which English neighbours earn 27% more than Scots? There are areas in England where like for like jobs are paid much less than equivalent jobs in Scotland, which may account for the many English and Irish accents I hear in my travels.

To Reply to G Goodall, what is your Scottish Identity? and how have we not been "submerged" by our English neighbours.

Is not our economy driven and dictated by the policies down south?
The incessant pursuit of house prices and inflation, why do out neighbours down south earn 27% more than us?
Why do we suffer, and will so again the fact that as a "nation" we reject a Conservative government?

To a lesser degree why is our media and holidays dictated by England, are you happy that in your Scottish "Identity" we are the sick and violent man of Europe

Also what and why on earth should it be a 'luxury' to be represented as a nation in many fields of activity ???

Bavarians may well be Germany but you may be happy to be both Scottish and English, but I for for would like to be part of a nation called Scotland.

#65

The point you make could be valid if Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish identities had been submerged into another unnamed identity. This is palpably NOT the case, as I have been aware of my Scottish identity ever since I can remember, as have my children and grandchildren. I do not need Alex Salmond and his posturing to make this fact more important in my life. The fact that Bavarians are also German, Basques are also Spanish and other examples of dual nationality in Europe suggest this is more of a rule rather than an exception. We also have the 'luxury' of being able to be represented as a nation in many fields of activity across the world, so what else does the SNP offer, other than diminishing services?

It is crucial to use our oil revenues for the benefit of future generations of Scots and not waste them on supporting the work shy.This is a problem in all developed countries and is a product of the welfare state,which needs to be overhauled.Tubgirl above-are you still clinging to the union?Not many of you left.

Fiscal autonomy is the ability to make decisions about how your society conducts it policies.

The UK contnually argues against having more of it's fiscal powers reserved to Brussels yet in the reverse Westminster resist fiscal powers being ceded to Edinburgh.

There is something profoundly dishonest about this position, especially when it is clear that smaller states can prosper, and prosper very well within a freely entered confederation of international relationships.

#66 Gordon Murray

What historical position are you fighting for then, if not the Declaration of Arbroath, successfully defended by Robert the Bruce, or the failed invasion of Bonnie Prince Charlie, successfully repulsed with the aid of Lowland Scots?

If oil was as valuable as it was when Mrs T used it to finance 3 million unemployed plus goodness knows how many on disability, then we would be looking at a price per barrel 4 or 5 times the value it is at now!! In real terms fuel, cigarettes and many other commodities are lower than they were 30 years ago. As for the increasing food prices, I note that we, the consumers, are forcing the sellers to reduce the costs from the highs they reached a few months ago. As a pensioner I keep a close eye on these points.

So if Independence is such a good thing just run the true costs by me. If its in my favour I will go for it.

The local income tax proposed will be a NATIONAL Income Tax, so people who live in efficient council areas now will have to subsidise those living in inefficient council areas. Hardly a fair system. I am quite happy the way things are.

Economic independence is currently bound up with oil. Before anyone dreamed of North sea oil, the case for Scotland's independence was utterly convincing to me, at least. Oil, however, does tip the scales even further in our favour! Not long ago, the unionist pundits were arguing that it was irresponsible to base economic forecasts on the buoyant price of oil (at $40 per barrel) arguing that there wes no guarantee that it would not slide back to its previous low value of $27, and so disrupt all our economic plans. Now that the price of Brent Crude is around $120, and predicted to reach $200 in the foreseeable future, there is a deafening silence from these same pundits! The windfall revenues to the Westminster exchequer are enormous, but how much has filtered through to the Scottish economy? There is rea;lly little more to say! Scotland is sitting on a Black Goldmine, from which the revenue is siphoned off into a foreign economy, while our fuel prices are the highest in the world, and our fishermen are contemplating hanging up their nets, while our haulage industry is on its knees. What price the "Union Dividend" now?