Scotland 2014 the triple whammy

This evening I lifted my personal embargo on the BBC to watch Scotland 2014 where Alistair Darling was taking questions from Sarah Smith.

My expectations were not great, I have to admit; Sarah Smith has not lived up to the original programme hype, but with Darling in the hot seat there was a morbid curiosity sitting within me.

Not long into the debate I realised I was impressed with Sarah Smith who was hitting Alistair Darling with questions like a seasoned pugilist.

My emotions were torn between anger and embarrassment as Darling bungled his words, confused himself completely and looked extremely uncomfortable with even the most straightforward of questions.

Sarah could have asked him for his favourite colour and still he would have been flummoxed. Unfortunately for Darling, Sarah’s questions were relentless and his performance continued in a downward trajectory.

However, there is a serious side to all this because we are talking about the future of Scotland; a nation currently in subjugation and trying to break free.

Perhaps I underestimate Darling?  Perhaps this bungling, spluttering, awkwardness is a deliberate rouse to confuse.  If you are not careful, Darling will wrap up his sentences with a sound bite and since you haven’t understood a bleedin’ word he has said you may blame yourself and give the point to him.

Not me, oh! no, I don’t give in that easy.  I would like to clarify a couple of points that I fear may have been missed in the ‘confusion’.

Sarah gave Darling another chance to name 3 new devolved powers that will benefit Scotland in terms of new, real job creation.  Alistair, you may remember from the Big Debate with Alex Salmond, struggled with this question; even when the ask dropped to 2 then on to 1.  Alex could have dropped it to 0, which I still think would have flummoxed Alistair but the audience may have seen that as a ‘piss take’.  Back to Sarah and her attempt at the 3 new powers question.  She fared no better.  Alistair eventually blurted out ‘borrow more money’ and immediately looked so pleased with himself.

A short time later when the pain in my side from laughing uncontrollably had subsided and I slipped back on the chair, I was in disbelief at what I had just heard.  Alistair Darling, the ex-Chancellor of the UK reckons that a great way to increase real jobs in Scotland is to borrow more money, get in to more debt?

Does anybody NOT wonder why this is the guy whose hand was on the tiller when the good ship UK Economy ran aground and all but sunk?  Does anybody still wonder why the UK is running with a total debt in the region of £1.6 – £1.7 Trillion?

But it gets worse, much much worse.

Sarah asked Alistair about the Scottish NHS.  She said, quite rightly, if the NHS budget in England gets cut, then, since the Scottish budget is proportional via the Barnett formula surely that means cuts to the Scottish NHS.  Sarah also reminds Alistair of £25 Billion of new budget cuts coming down the line and arriving at a station near you soon.

‘Oh! no, quite the opposite, the budget in Scotland can go up, look at our record in Government over 10 years and blah, blah, blah and the kitchen sink, and world peace and therefore it is all really good’, says Alistair.    Whaaat?

Amongst the overload of totally unrelated tripe I managed to decipher a few of his points.  It is absolutely crucial to understand what he is trying to slip by us.

First of all he is saying we can spend more on Scotland’s NHS although the overall budget is smaller so we must make cuts somewhere else, and very substantial ones at that.  If it was Westminster it would be a cut in welfare benefits because they do like to give the poorest in society a good old kicking (well, they don’t vote for us anyway!).  The Scottish Government have to rob some other budget if they are to keep the NHS ‘as is’.

Of course, of course, of course!  Alistair had the answer.  Scotland now has tax raising powers. That’s how we can get more money to make up the shortfall.

OK.  So what are the key points?

1.  Westminster cuts the Scottish budget.  Their incentive is, that gives Westminster more money.  That is really straightforward.

2.  Scotland now needs to raise more money or make cuts to the NHS.  They can make the cuts, borrow more money, which of course incurs interest repayments, or raise taxes.  Either way this will COST THE SCOTTISH PEOPLE – ALMOST CERTAINLY IN HIGHER TAXES,

3.  Here’s the best bit – this is really cool.  The Scottish Government GET THE BLAME.    Think about it.  Westminster get extra money, the Scots pay HIGHER TAXES and the Scottish Government GET THE BLAME.  This has to be the best triple whammy ever.

Alistair, this is pure genius.  This is the man who tells Scots we are Better Together, this is the man who tells Scots we can get The Best of Both Worlds, this is the man we was narrowly beaten into second place as the UK’s worst Chancellor by none other than Gordon Brown!