Lord Hamilton of Epsom
Main Page: Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Conservative - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Hamilton of Epsom's debates with the HM Treasury
(9 years, 3 months ago)
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Lord Newby
My Lords, it is always a pleasure to agree with the noble Lord. It is, however, worth underlining the point that he has just made. There would be a £6 billion deficit compared to the figures in the Scottish Government’s November 2013 White Paper in respect of oil revenues, which would mean that for that reason alone the Scottish deficit in 2016-17 would be more than 6% of GDP, one of the biggest in the developed world.
Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)
My Lords, as the progress of Scotland towards independence seems to be almost inexorable, should we not be getting them used to the idea of doing without English money and phasing out the Barnett formula over a period of years?
Lord Newby
Well, my Lords, that is exactly what we are doing. The transfer of tax revenue to the Scottish Government means that the block grant, the element to which the Barnett formula applies, is falling by two-thirds from approximately £30 billion to £10 billion.