{"id":230364,"date":"2016-03-09T16:33:45","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T16:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/scotland-would-have-fallen-into-economic-abyss-had-it-voted-for-independence-report\/"},"modified":"2016-03-09T16:33:45","modified_gmt":"2016-03-09T16:33:45","slug":"scotland-would-have-fallen-into-economic-abyss-had-it-voted-for-independence-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/scotland-would-have-fallen-into-economic-abyss-had-it-voted-for-independence-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Scotland would have fallen into economic \u2018abyss\u2019 had it voted for independence \u2013 report"},"content":{"rendered":"

(RT<\/a>) – <\/p>\n

Scotland would be billions of pounds worse off had the Scottish people voted to leave the United Kingdom in September 2014, the government\u2019s annual fiscal report suggests. <\/p>\n

\n

The Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) figures, unveiled by Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Wednesday, indicate the fall in the global price of oil and gas has devastated the nation\u2019s finances and led to a dramatic drop in Scotland\u2019s tax-raising powers, undermining the Scottish National Party\u2019s (SNP) case for independence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the GERS statistics, considered a guide to Scotland\u2019s finances, Scotland\u2019s deficit\u2014at around \u00a315 billion (US$21 billion) \u2014is proportionally almost twice as big as the UK as a whole. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese figures from the SNP government show once and for all the devastating impact leaving the UK would have had on Scotland\u2019s finances,\u201d<\/em> said Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale. <\/p>\n

Jim Gallagher, a former Cabinet minister and expert on devolution who advised the pro-UK Better Together Campaign in 2014, said the figures show that an independent Scotland would have fallen into an economic \u201cabyss\u201d equal to a 12 percent increase on all taxes. <\/p>\n

\n
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Jesus, GERS numbers are brutal. What is the utilitarian argument for independence in such circumstances, as opposed to the existential one?<\/p>\n

\u2014 Kenny Farquharson (@KennyFarq) March 9, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe would be starting at the abyss at the moment if we had voted for independence,\u201d<\/em> he said on Tuesday night before Sturgeon released the report.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the referendum for Scottish Independence, the SNP used GERS figures from previous years when oil prices were high as evidence that an independent Scotland would be better off.<\/p>\n

Announcing the figures, Sturgeon dismissed criticism, claiming they must be examined in a broader context.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo country anywhere in the world looks at its fiscal position and makes judgments about its fiscal position based on one year\u2019s figures. Over the past 10 years the reality is that Scotland\u2019s fiscal position has been broadly similar to the rest of the UK,\u201d<\/em> she said.<\/p>\n

Last month, Holyrood and Whitehall agreed to a fiscal framework that safeguards Scotland\u2019s UK funding for the next six years, as tax and welfare powers are transferred to Edinburgh in the biggest devolution package in nearly 20 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(RT) – Scotland would be billions of pounds worse off had the Scottish people voted to leave the United Kingdom in September 2014, the government\u2019s annual fiscal report suggests. The Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) figures, unveiled by Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Wednesday, indicate the fall in the global price of oil […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":230365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-230364","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}