If Alex Salmond is cutting bureaucracy, why does he have so many quangos?

Escape committees

An LSE/Institute for Government report estimated the cost of Scottish independence at £2.7 billion, a sum arrived at by multiplying the 180 bodies which would need to be set up by £15 million. The SNP challenged the claim, saying it planned to set up a ‘slimmed-down’ administration. A reminder of some of the quangos already run by the Scottish government:
— Scottish Agricultural Wages Board
— Bus Users Complaints Tribunal
— Rent Assessment Panel for Scotland
— Scottish Advisory Committee on Distinction Awards
— Hill Farming Advisory Committee for Scotland
— Scottish Records Advisory Committee
— Fisheries (Electricity) Committee

Independent variables

While support for Ukip has been growing, what has happened to opinion polls of British membership of the EU?

	Out
Nov 2012	56%
July 2013	46%
March 2014	39%
May 2014	37%

	In
Nov 2012	30%
July 2013	36%
March 2014	41%
May 2014	54%

Mouse trap

Michael Gove wants to drop American classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men from the English syllabus and replace them with works by British authors.