Scottish Budget
The series of announcements by John Swinney had the feeling of inevitability over the depth and nature of the cuts.
Were there cuts?
Let me explain the conflicting positions in simple terms.
Labour say funding has increased, the SNP say it has been cut. Who is right?
The total funding for next year has increased, but because of the effect of inflation and advanced capital expenditure, the available funding has reduced. Eh???
Let's forget inflation in the first instance. My annual salary is £20,000 so I can spend £20,000 each year. I buy a new car and the HP is £3,000 a year. Next year my available expenditure is £17,000 or a 15% cut. That is the effect of advanced capital expenditure.
Second instance - accounting for inflation. My salary increases to £22,000. I can now spend £22,000 or 10% more.
Adjusting for my HP payments my available expenditure is £19,000 (£22,000-3,000) compared to £20,000 before I bought the new car.
So in reality has the my available expenditure increased or decreased? Half-full or half-empty? You can argue whatever you like, but the real test is if the new car is a better use of expenditure than all the alternatives.
This is known as "prudential budgeting" in Council circles; and to the rest of us as mortgaging our future.
The cuts have to be deep: trying to protect all jobs whilst making cuts this deep is stupid. Really stupid. Face facts and bite the bullet.
Some impacts: a cut in the budgets of Scottish Enterprise and Highland and Islands Enterprise from £376m to £300m (20%); Educational Maintenance Allowances cut from £36.5m to £31.5m (15%). And these will not be the end of it, nor the worst.
All this comes around due to the economic mismanagement of Brown andDarling Blair which has now been dropped into the lap of the patsy, Darling.
The next decade is going to be tough, irrespective of who is in power wherever, so brace yourselves and start to act accordingly now.
Were there cuts?
Let me explain the conflicting positions in simple terms.
Labour say funding has increased, the SNP say it has been cut. Who is right?
The total funding for next year has increased, but because of the effect of inflation and advanced capital expenditure, the available funding has reduced. Eh???
Let's forget inflation in the first instance. My annual salary is £20,000 so I can spend £20,000 each year. I buy a new car and the HP is £3,000 a year. Next year my available expenditure is £17,000 or a 15% cut. That is the effect of advanced capital expenditure.
Second instance - accounting for inflation. My salary increases to £22,000. I can now spend £22,000 or 10% more.
Adjusting for my HP payments my available expenditure is £19,000 (£22,000-3,000) compared to £20,000 before I bought the new car.
So in reality has the my available expenditure increased or decreased? Half-full or half-empty? You can argue whatever you like, but the real test is if the new car is a better use of expenditure than all the alternatives.
This is known as "prudential budgeting" in Council circles; and to the rest of us as mortgaging our future.
The cuts have to be deep: trying to protect all jobs whilst making cuts this deep is stupid. Really stupid. Face facts and bite the bullet.
Some impacts: a cut in the budgets of Scottish Enterprise and Highland and Islands Enterprise from £376m to £300m (20%); Educational Maintenance Allowances cut from £36.5m to £31.5m (15%). And these will not be the end of it, nor the worst.
All this comes around due to the economic mismanagement of Brown and
The next decade is going to be tough, irrespective of who is in power wherever, so brace yourselves and start to act accordingly now.
12 comments:
Sorry Angus this is also down to the undeliverable promises made by the SNP in their budget manifesto. They promised to give, give, give without having a clue where the money was going to come from. It was obvious that the UK economic bubble was going to burst, houses were too expensive and credit was too available and cheap. The SNP are just as much to blame as anyone and are trying to protect civil service jobs so that they retain their votes in the next election.
Locally though aren' we being dealt a duff deal?
Heb News talks of £330k coming to the islands, but much less than the Northern Isles through SRDP.
Why are we not tuned in to tap into this pot? Surely we have at least learned the shkills of grant grabbing?
The issue is that HIE and CNES have been chasing white elephants and not the real pot of money. Forget renewables and get back to the grass roots.
Next decade you reckon Angus. Ouch. So much for shoots of recovery
> so brace yourselves and start to act accordingly now.
I have. Three years here to wrap up things and expand current online business, then emigrating to Sweden.
Angus; genuine conversation between Mock the Week and the treasury (check on i-player)
MTW: Do the treasury give figures to the British billion [a million million] or the US billion [a thousand million]
T: Its the british billion, we wouldn't give any other figure.
MTW: [pressingly] So a billion is a million million?
T: [suddenly uncertain] I'll check
[goes away and checks it out]... Er, its a thousand million
Perhaps Labour are right. We should slash the spending on Gaelic and put it to a more useful need.
MacSween - what say you?
Give the SG back the money for the schools project as our efficency cuts opps Manford savings. Revert to the Capital program before schools program £12m plunder.Sorted.
"Give the SG back the money for the schools project as our efficency cuts opps Manford savings. Revert to the Capital program before schools program £12m plunder.Sorted."
And in English that is..?
I agree - cancel the Schools project its just a disaster waiting to happen.
Its just the council trying to make themselves look like their doing something.
"Give the SG back the money for the schools project as our efficency cuts opps Manford savings. Revert to the Capital program before schools program £12m plunder.Sorted."
And in English that is..?
Still incomprehensible??
I agree cancel the schools as a saving. I think it should read oops according to Manford there is no SG cuts only savings.
3.10-1pm - very good, at least you left a gap before repeating yourself
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