[Alex]
At the risk of a Tartan overdose in these parts, it’s worth pointing out that the Scottsh Labour party is these days perhaps more hostile to the idea of independence than are the Tories. Simple self-interest, shockingly, lies behind this calculation since, deprived of their 50 or so Scottish members, Labour would struggle to win a majority of seats in the rump UK parliament. No wonder Gordon Brown, Blair’s gloomy, very Scottish, heir apparent, is concerned. The break-up of Britain would make it impossible for him to remain Prime Minister.
This leads to strange arguments. Writing in the Guardan recently David Clark, a former advisor to another Scots Labour MP, the former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, rightly noted that the SNP’s spending proposals are, um, ambitious and that following the "Iish model" might not be possible.
The SNP argues that an independent Scotland would be able to follow Ireland in slashing corporation tax to attract higher levels of inward investment. But Ireland also has the second-lowest levels of public spending in the OECD – 34% of GDP. Scotland has one of the highest, at more than 50%.No amount of oil wealth could bridge this gap. For Scotland to emulate Ireland’s "Celtic tiger" model would require an assault on public services far more brutal than anything inflicted by Margaret Thatcher.
You’re all way ahead of me here, I know, if I observe that this is precisely what actually needs to happen if Scotland is to have any hope of being what the advertising hoardings at Edinburgh airport boastfully proclaim: "The Best Small Country in the World."
I’ll grant you that this is an unlikely claim, but it is so precisely because Scotland has for years pursued policies anathema to growth and prosperity: policies embraced by Mr Clark and his ilk who now claim that the consequences of their failures are the reasons for opposing change. Rum, very rum.
The Dish 