Monday 15 September 2003

There may be financial trouble ahead

A majority of Tory MSPs now favour fiscal independence for Scotland. We are told that implementation of such a change would require a Conservative government in Westminster and that:
The move would also have the potential to create a constitutional rift between Westminster and Holyrood if a UK Tory government were to impose fiscal autonomy on an unwilling Labour Scottish executive.
But surely there is potential for trouble the moment the Scottish Tories officially adopt fiscal independence. At that point I imagine that there could be a pro-fiscal independence majority in the Edinburgh parliament with only Labour holding out for the present dependency-culture arrangements. Could a Tory-Nationalist alliance bring down the government? To avoid such an outcome the (Il)liberal Democrats would have to vote against further devolution!