British finance ministry claims Scottish independence costs at £1.5bn

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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British finance ministry has attacked the Scottish government’s independence plans on Monday through claiming that the new administration could cost Scottish taxpayers over 1.5 billion pounds.

The Scottish referendum is scheduled to take place on September 18 which will empower the Scotland public to decide on whether to end a 307-year union with England and split from the rest of the United Kingdom. U.K. government and treasury have repeatedly warned the Scots that they would be financially worse off in case they vote in favour of independence.

The recent figure is estimated on the basis of research into the costs of setting up an independent state in Quebec, which is likely to be equivalent to 1% of GDP.

The U.K. Treasury has also indicated that the projected costs could be nearly twice as much, if based on London School of Economics (LSE) research.

The Treasury has claimed Scottish ministers planned to establish 180 public bodies, which led the LSE to a figure of £2.7bn as the cost of setting up a new department is assessed to be £15m.

However, the Treasury has also reasoned, while it had used a more conservative figure in its own analysis, the £2.7bn projection was “reasonable”.

While Scotland’s first minister Alex Salmond has dismissed the Treasury claims as “ridiculous” and “deeply flawed”, saying the Edinburgh administration had never mentioned that it would need 180 new government departments and also hold doubts over the credibility of the rest of the analysis as well.

The Scottish government has also elaborated that

U.K. finance ministry has asked the Scottish government to publish its own cost estimates to set up the required bodies to run an independent country.

Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander has said: “The Scottish government is trying to leave the UK but it won’t tell anyone how much the set-up surcharge is for an independent Scotland.”

Scotland’s Finance Secretary John Swinney spokesperson has told that much of the infrastructure for an independent Scotland already exists and full investments would not be required as mentioned.

Also the “Scottish taxpayers already pay their fair share for all devolved and reserved services – while Scotland also stands to inherit a fair share of joint assets, valued at around $1.3 trillion.”

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