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September 24, 2004
Independence 2: Wendy Alexander on fiscal autonomy
Wendy Alexander (Labour MSP for Paisley North) has linked up Alex Salmond Vs. Elis-Thomas on independence (September 21: Independence I: Inevitability) with the Hallwood/MacDonald paper (with her introduction) from Fraser of Allander (September 16: ‘Fiscal Federalism in Scotland’). Perhaps it’s understandable that she would want to to get a bit more mileage out of her involvement with the latter.
Alexander’s argument appears to be this:
- The SNP is arguing for fiscal autonomy which doesn’t exist in any other federal or devolved country in the world (as confirmed by Hallwood and MacDonald).
- The SNP is frightened to argue for independence, instead it is presenting fiscal autonomy as a viable option for a devolved Scotland, spuriously claiming that more financial powers will bring economic growth.
This is convoluted.
The SNP believe devolution is inadequate. They want Holyrood to have more powers. Naturally they want Scotland to have more control over the money. They have a policy objective of independence. This is straightforward, no?
If, as Alexander suggests, fiscal autonomy is tantamount to independence (although I have some doubts about that) I don’t see why this should pose any problems for the SNP - or Scotland.
news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=324&id=1108842004
Posted by Simon Holledge at September 24, 2004 12:18 AM