Nicola Sturgeon and her colleagues plan to hold a referendum on Scotland leaving the UK a little over a year from now. All going to plan, they then intend to start governing a brand new state, with full control over taxes and spending, sometime in 2025. With such weighty obligations on the horizon, you would think the release of new, up-to-date official numbers outlining Scotland’s stand-alone fiscal position would be hotly anticipated by the First Minister and her team.
Apparently not. Instead of blocking out time in her diary this week to showcase the Government Expenditure & Revenue Scotland (Gers) 2021-22 statistics, which came out on Wednesday, and which outline Scotland’s overall tax and spend position, the First Minister chose instead to take part in a discussion show at the Fringe. A look at the new figures gives an indication of why she might be keeping her distance.
The latest numbers show Scotland had a double-digit deficit in 2021-22 of 12.3
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