Dear David

A brief update on Scotland in front of the May 5^th election. There is sadly no doubt that the SNP will carry the day despite the majority of the country not wanting to break up the Union and despite the awful mess they have made of education, the Police, the NHS and transport all of which were devolved prior to 2007 when they came to power.

Through the Barnett formula they have received what they would have received in taxation from the oil industry if that industry had been devolved and blown most of it currying favour through the benefits system, an idiotic investment in renewables and a disastrous Stalinist policy of centralising everything.

The SNP, Labour and the Greens all want to make certain that Scotland is the highest taxed area in the UK, forgetting conveniently that wealth creators are highly mobile and many have already left the country and others will follow as sure as night follows day. Wealth creation does not enter into the vocabularies of any of these political parties – merely a benefits binge through higher taxation, which as any sane individual knows is a recipe for disaster and conveniently forgets the £15 billion black hole in the event of a YES vote in 2014. Moreover we do not yet know the cost of one of the Nationalists flagship policies – the state guardian to act as a link between every child up to the age of 18 and officials. A figure of £65 million to set up this idiotic Stalinist idea thus far has been mentioned and not denied.

In the meantime the motorways and main roads in much of the country are worse than those in the third world and one local Authority has actually decreed that a pot hole is not a pot hole unless it is at least two inches deep!!! What is so sad is that this used to be a wonderful country in which to live.

David Fuller's view

Many thanks for your informative report which will interest many subscribers who do not live in Scotland.

Regrettably, I think the SNP is more cynical than foolish, because it is buying support by causing Scotland to live beyond its current means, while reducing its prospects for future economic growth in the process. These are policies which might cause even EU bureaucrats to blush.  Of course the SNP is gambling that the UK referendum on 23^rd June will produce a victory for staying in the EU, as the polls and betting odds currently suggest. If so, I would expect the SNP to lobby Brussels for support, on the basis that they swung the vote. 

Meanwhile, you have my sympathies.