David Mundell, the somewhat improbable Secretary of State for Scotland, had at least one good line yesterday: “The SNP are asking for something they don’t really want, but of course they will complain if they don’t get it.”
It being our old chum Full Fiscal Autonomy (or Responsibility) for Scotland. Now if the ordinary rules of politics still applied you might think a party might pay some price for bitterly complaining about a £100m cut to the Scottish block grant while also advocating measures that would require some £7 billion in additional tax increases or spending cuts would be laughed at. But the ordinary rules of politics no longer apply and no-one finds anything very funny in Scotland any more.
Nevertheless, that is the SNP’s actual policy at present. It is true that Labour, in particular, have been banging this drum for some time and true that it’s had no impact whatsoever. So much so, in fact, that John Swinney, deputising for Nicola Sturgeon at First Minister’s Questions yesterday, mocked Kezia Dugdale for her apparent obsession with the costs of FFA.
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