Economical With The Truth

Yesterday the Broon man gave a speech in Scotland where he attacked the SNP’s financial arguments for an independent Scotland. You can see more HERE. Naturally the SNP retorted with the usual arguments about their fiscal policies being the better. Their spokesman came up with a subtle twist on the old theme. "Gordon Brown has blundered badly with this latest ludicrous attack. His claims about Scotland are simply untrue, but actually are true for the UK without Scottish resources."

I suspect I’m not alone in being unable to grasp what is true and what isn’t. Short of seeing the whole economic argument laid out, and I suspect that would take some doing, I don’t know how any of us can make a reasoned judgement. In essence what both Labour and SNP are saying is ‘trust us, we’re right.’

However, I can’t also help thinking that at the root of Broon’s argument is a slight modification on the SNP’s statement. ‘His claims about Scotland are simply untrue, but without their Scottish MP’s Labour in London are in a mess.’ With an independent Scotland where would Brown, Reid, Darling et al find a seat? There’s never been any doubt in my mind that this is what devolution has been about. Let’s appease the wee Scot’s voters into believing they have a say and the status quo is maintained. Having said that I’m still not in favour of independence, with all too few exceptions the caliber of politicians in sleepy Holyrood is woeful.