Hear, hear!
Submitted by Toque on Tue, 06/08/2010 - 09:26
Given that the Barnett formula funds on the basis of population and not need, it is profoundly unfair to overfund Scotland by the extent of £4bn to £5bn a year while requiring underfunded local authorities in the rest of the country to make further savage cuts as their contribution to reducing the deficit.
Read the Lords debate here.
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“We recognise the concerns
“We recognise the concerns expressed by the Holtham Commission on the system of devolution funding. However, at this time, the priority must be to reduce the deficit ...”
I should imagine the Coalition Government are regretting the wording of this section of the coalition document already. If they had stuck to the ‘Barnett would be awfully complex to replace’ line they would have been on safer ground politically.
The Welsh Lib Dems (not a mighty force granted) are getting a little restive. They won’t be giving up on some sort of concession on Barnett reform – they can’t afford to.
The party political aspect is
The party political aspect is interesting. Maybe we will see some movement on this issue after the Scottish Parliament election.
Yes, I know that the Welsh Assembly has an election in the same year, but for various reasons Wales is easier for the coalition to ignore than Scotland.
What would the dynamics be?
What would the dynamics be? If the Tories make little or no progress in the Scottish Parliament but the SNP falters they might as well appease voters in Wales and England by reforming the Barnett formula. If the SNP are returned to power the Tories will remain reluctant to pick a fight over money. On the other hand if the Scottish Lib Dems enter into coalition with Scottish Labour, they’ll be looking to protect the block grant. But then there will be Calman to factor in ... From my very hazy understanding of Calman it does seem to be based on Scotland receiving roughly the same money as it would under Barnett but by different means.
Who knows what secret deals
Who knows what secret deals have been struck. I imagine it's the Lib Dems who are most twitchy about Scotland - there's a strong Scottish faction in the Lib Dems (Kennedy, Steel, Campbell, Alexander, Swinson, Wallace) who will be keen to protect their little power base.
As you say, the Tories have little to lose (at least in terms of MPs) - but Annabel Goldie is close to Cameron, and attended shadow cabinet, so maybe she's also applying pressure for them to wait until after the Scottish elections.
Hopefully they'll both be wiped out by the SNP and Labour anyway, if only to help remove Scotland from their considerations.
I don't think they'll implement the Calman tax plans.
I think you picked up on
I think you picked up on Betsan Powys’s blog which noted that the intention to establish “a process similar to the Calman Commission for the Welsh Assembly” (depending on the outcome of the forthcoming referendum) was complete news to Welsh Tories and Welsh Lib Dems. Did the Coalition foresee giving some form of fiscal autonomy to Wales and Scotland at the same time? I think the Coalition may have added an unnecessary complication - fiscal autonomy - to the referendum debate. Speaking of which... Nick Clegg wants to hold the AV referendum next May on the same day as the devolved elections and the Welsh referendum in March. So the Welsh electorate will be faced with two referendums in the space of two months. I wonder what the Electoral Commission will have to say about that?
And they want the UK election
And they want the UK election date fixed to coincide with the devolved nations' election dates.
If they press ahead with Calman they can't very well deny Wales further devolution, given that the majority want a referendum. The end result of all this is going to make the Barnett Formula and the 'West Lothian anomally' even more ridiculous. It's hard not to envisage an unravelling of the UK.
My concern is not that 'they'
My concern is not that 'they' will deny further devolution to Wales but that the Welsh electorate will be utterly confused as to what they are voting on!
And talk about going round in
And talk about going round in circles ...from yesterday's Hansard:
Roger Williams (Brecon and Radnorshire) (LD): A Select Committee in the other place found that reform of the Barnett formula could lead to a reduction in the budget deficit. In terms of the imperative of achieving that, will not the Treasury team look once again at that Select Committee report?
Danny Alexander: I am happy to look at the report, but as I said in answer to earlier questions, we made it clear in the coalition programme for government that, although we recognise those concerns, the priority must be to address the budget deficit, and that is what we are going to do.
Nigel Lawson made a similar
Nigel Lawson made a similar point - he also said that reform of Barnett could cut the deficit.
If everyone had English levels of spending we could save about £7bn.
They don't care about 'fairness'.