Meanwhile in happier news for Alex Salmond and his merry throng, the latest GERS figures are out and you can expect to see the Natiionalists trumpet them to all who care to listen:
Government and Expenditure Revenue Scotland 2009-10 figures show that, including a geographical share of UK North Sea oil and gas revenues, Scotland contributed 9.4% of UK public sector revenue and received 9.3% of total UK public sector expenditure, including a per capita share of UK debt interest payments.
Don’t expect these figures – or any others produced by anyone else – to make much difference to the discussion, however. For many – though not most – people the number-crunching has become a largely partisan issue. Or rather, nationalists believe one set of numbers and many of the SNP’s foes (to say nothing of journalists on the London regional papers) believe quite another. This remains the case in each instance regardless of what the numbers actually appear to say. These are matters of political faith and therefore impressively resilient. And of course while they must inform the constitutional discussion, they should neither dominate nor decide it, regardless of which lot of figures you choose to believe.Including a geographical share of North Sea revenues, Scotland’s estimated current budget balance in 2009-10 was a deficit of £9bn, or 6.8% of GDP – stronger than the UK-wide deficit of £107.3bn, or 7.6% of GDP for the same year, including 100% of North Sea revenues.
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