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Darling: Spending review could go ahead

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Published Date: 11 July 2009
By Gavin Cordon
CHANCELLOR Alistair Darling has hinted that the government could still hold a review of public spending before going to the country in a general election.
In a newspaper interview, he said that the government would have to tell people "the lie of the land" when it came to the public finances.

His comments will be seen as a rebuff to Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, who suggested recently that plans for a department-by-department spending review had been abandoned ahead of the election.

Mr Darling said: "I'm very clear that we do have to tell people the lie of the land. People will understand there are uncertainties, but we do have to set out our stall. Public spending will be tighter than it has been in the past."





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  • Last Updated: 11 July 2009 12:29 AM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

The Answer,

Glasgow 11/07/2009 01:06:11
Any review is going to hurt the scots much more than he English , half of local government revenue (council tax and business rates) raised in England comes in at £50 billion , against expenditure of £100 billion, in scotland expenditure in local government is £14 billion , yet only £3.5 billion is raied from council tax and business rates.
2

hoblar,

11/07/2009 01:29:47
Scotland has a capital "S'.

England spends a lot of money, far beyond the taxes it can raise.

Have you considered that England might just be in debt?

Think about how much the westminster government is in debt (£Trillions) and who pays it, not only good old England and they help big-time to choose the westminster clowns that have ruined the economy of Scotland and England

With a capital E.

Debt ridden England within the UK pays for naffall.
3

Darien,

Panama 11/07/2009 01:40:02
#1: You forgot to mention that the oddly named 'nation' UKofGB&NI is bust.

Ever wondered what an independent Scotland's trade balance would look like?

Consider that:

-90%+ of UK oil is Scottish
-the UK's no 1 food&drink product is Scottish (whisky)
-85% of UK fish is landed in Scotland
-tourism spend per capita in Scotland is more than twice the UK level
-Scotland's renewable energy output per capita will be 10+ times more per capita than UK level

Case absolutely made for independence!

4

The Answer,

Glasgow 11/07/2009 02:34:43
#4

scotlnd even with 1 in 4 working in the public sector, still manages to have higher male unemployment than England (which has less than 1 in 5 in the public sector).
5

The Answer,

Glasgow 11/07/2009 02:38:11
#3

96% of internationl non eu flights are into English airports.

tinyurl.com/6ngahp
6

The Answer,

Glasgow 11/07/2009 02:40:30
#2

just how much did the bankrupt scots banks rbs and bos cost the English tax payers again ?
7

Am Fògarrach,

11/07/2009 03:57:40
The Answer, alledgedly from Glasgow:

You are comparing apples and oranges. If you care to take a look at the GERS Report 2009, you will find that, using the UK government's own figures, Scotland had a surplus of £219 million (0.2 per cent of GDP) including an estimated
geographical share of North Sea revenue.

See http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/06/18101733/17
8

Am Fògarrach,

11/07/2009 04:00:47
Further to my comment #7, that surplus was in 2008 when the recession had already begun.

In actual fact, that figure is still low because significant revenues and expenditures were still misallocated - to Scotland's disadvantage, as usual.

9

Am Fògarrach,

11/07/2009 04:03:43
#6 The Wrong Answer:

For your information, Scottish taxpayers are also paying for the problems of RBOS and HBOS, much of whose business was outside Scotland and much of that was outside the UK.
10

Am Fògarrach,

11/07/2009 04:06:36
#3 The Irrelevant Answer:

So what. The London area alone has a higher population than all of Scotland.
11

Am Fògarrach,

11/07/2009 04:11:06
#4 The irrelevany Answer:

We have the Labour Party to thank for that. Here's a question for you: How many years did the Labour Party have responsibility for the Scottish public weal? Enen after devolution, How many years did the Labour-LibDem Scottish executive have that responsibility?
12

Am Fògarrach,

11/07/2009 04:16:29
Sorry - In #11, "irrelevany " should be "Irrelevancy".

But in any case, if you really are Glaswegian, how can you live with yourself for being such a cringing disgrace to your fellow countryfolk?
13

dunedin bully wee 1877,

11/07/2009 05:40:12
“In a newspaper interview, he (Darling) said that the government would have to tell people "the lie of the land" when it came to the public finances.”

Would that be a bigger “lie” than Iraq’s “possession of WMD”?

They have been telling us lies for years, so what’s new here?
14

The Saltire,

11/07/2009 07:17:19
4

The unemployment rate demographics in relation to Scotland and England favours Scotland in practically all groups with only one or two showing England as slighly better off. So dont spin that wind up garbage on here its already been toasted.
15

The Saltire,

11/07/2009 07:19:12
5

The only airport in the UK showing an increase in flight numbers and passengers is Edinburgh airport. The rest are in decline.
16

The Saltire,

11/07/2009 07:25:31
6
Youre not keeping up with the news too busy looking for garbage to sh*t stir with. HBOS was not bankrupt when the government forced the takeover by Lloyds. It has come to light that the takeover was not even necessary.
It was a political con. The same with RBS. The news put out by the media with regards to the stability of these institutions has now been found out to be false and misleading. A bit like you really? so which one are you? Maddox? McDonnell? Lydell? or the prat who wrote this article?
17

Jimmy Le Pie,

11/07/2009 08:16:26
#6

If these banks had been 'Scottish' then all the profits and corporation tax would have come north???

You are an idiot.
18

The Former Mr. Angry,

Perth 11/07/2009 09:10:37
Darling mentions spending review as if it's an optional extra! And it "could" go ahead. With the taxpayer and voter at the end of their tether as regards fiscal and spending incompetence, this must be a mandatory condition before the next election so we know where we stand and what haven't got. What Brown of course would not like to reveal is just how really bad things are otherwise it really will be "the lie of the land" like all the other ones.
19

Edward,

11/07/2009 10:07:19
UK Plc is a busted flush
Darling can promise all he wants, his boss wants to keep the debt under wraps as long as possible as he is desperate to cling to power, now less than 9 months to the possible last feasable date for the next election
20

SECESSION NOW,

11/07/2009 10:42:46
http://tinyurl.com/nd5oa6

Published Date: 30 November 2008
By Tom Peterkin
Scottish Political Editor
THE expert group examining new powers for Holyrood has "tampered with the evidence" to suit the Labour Party, one of its own economic advisers suggested last night.
Professor Andrew Hughes Hallett, one of 11 economics experts tasked with examining tax powers north of the border, said its final report did not have "much legitimacy" because it was skewed towards preserving the status quo.

Hughes Hallett said he had wanted the expert group to look at whether the Scottish Government should be given the power to borrow money but claims this was glossed over in the final report.

He told Scotland on Sunday: "Had it been a criminal issue, you would call it tampering with the evidence by not considering all the options."
21

SECESSION NOW,

11/07/2009 10:48:15
#20 Well who would have thought it. Tampering with evidence, destroying voting records, fraudulent postal voting, Labour have form in these crimes of that there is public record.

The unionist cabal who will do "all in their power," to stop the SNP.
22

Darien,

Panama 11/07/2009 11:04:46
#3 wrong answer: "96% of internationl non eu flights are into English airports"

I assume you mean flight to/from the UK? So what. Most thinking Scots transfer at Schiphol and avoid Heathrow like the plague. BA is going bust anyway, just like the very oddly named 'nation' called UKofGB&NI.
23

Darien,

Panama 11/07/2009 11:39:03
#6 wrong answer again: "just how much did the bankrupt scots banks rbs and bos cost the English tax payers again ?"

Be realistic. The vast majority of these banks' toxic debts are in England. That is why Westmidden bailed out the banks. Did you think Westmidden/perfidious albion was doing Scotland a favour. Ha ha ha!

These so-called "Scottish" banks are actually city of London internationally trading banks active in global markets, albeit with most of their bad debts in England. Simply having a brass plate on a door in Edinburgh does not make them Scottish. These are City of London banks. It made political sense for Westmidden to call them "Scottish" banks, but they are anything but, in terms of shareholder or investment or bad debt.

Broon & Darling should have let these and other banks go bust. Although that would have made UKofGB&NI bust rather faster, the ongoing economic distress will end with the same eventual outcome. The UKofGB&NI is bust, which is positive for Scotland insofar as the umbilical chord between Westminster and Holyrood is now dry and that alone will hurry independence.

The union began with a bust bank and is ending the same way.
24

The Answer,

Glasgow 11/07/2009 12:44:08
#23

How does it feel now the the scotch banks rbs and bos now classified as being in the public sector , mean that more scots work in the public sector than that other failed state where they speak ulster scotch, ie northen ireland..
25

Jimmy Le Pie,

11/07/2009 12:56:24
#24

Do you class all the non Scots that work for HBOS and RBS as Scots???

You're an even bigger idiot than I thought!!!
26

The Answer,

Glasgow 11/07/2009 13:17:03
#25

I'm only counting the bos and rbs staff in scotsland in the scotslands public sector figures.
No amount of speil can hide the fact , that scots public sector is higher than that other place the scots have a lot of affinty with , N Ireland the land of the ulster scottish!

The public sector in England would need to employ another 1 million to bring it up to parity with the size of scotsland public sector, prime example , Yorkshire and the Humber (Y+H) , same size population as scotsland , also a economic basket case (lots of foced marriages , brides who dont speak English, thus on unemployment benefits) has 100,000 less public sector workers than scotsland, but Y+H only has 7,000 more males without employment compared to scotsland.
27

Am Fògarrach,

11/07/2009 15:42:41
26 The stupid cringing Answer -

Again you are comparing apples and oranges.

I invite you again to look at the GERS Report 2009, where you will find that, using the UK government's own figures, Scotland had a surplus in 2008 of £219 million (0.2 per cent of GDP) including an estimated
geographical share of North Sea revenue. See http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/06/18101733/17.

Since you claim to know all the answers, would you care to tell us what the UK government surplus was in 2008?
28

Am Fògarrach,

11/07/2009 15:56:19
All posts by the Cowardly Answer -

What do you hope to accomplish by posting all those irrelevant sets of statistics?

If you trying to "kill Independence stone dead", why don't you come right out and say so?

I'll answer my own question. You have religious objections to telling the truth - you are a devout Coward.




29

The Answer,

Glasgow 11/07/2009 16:05:36
#28

the sooner the English are shot of the burden of the lazy scots the better.

scotsland is a tiny 8% of the UK population, get over it!

scotsland produces only 7% of UK undergraduates, get over it.

30

,

11/07/2009 16:58:09
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
31

,

11/07/2009 17:00:51
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
32

Jimmy Le Pie,

11/07/2009 17:23:20
#32

Are you a buffoon from Ireland or the USA??

Or just illiterate??

There is no e in whisky if you're Scottish.
33

Am Fògarrach,

11/07/2009 19:04:54
29 The Irrelevant Answer

You are a cringing idiot. Too bad you can't "get over it."
34

Am Fògarrach,

11/07/2009 19:21:33
30 Malaclypse the Younger

Well hello smee, I thought we might hear from you.

Your figures are for expenditures plus capital investment. Well whatever turns you on...

It would help a lot more if you would care to tell us what the UK government surplus was in 2008, wouldn't it?.

 

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