| How will these departments be set up? |
| Wednesday, 18 March 2009 14:50 |
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Remember, Scots taxpayers already pay the UK Government to run these departments in London. However, although we pay our share of the costs of all these departments, we don’t get the benefits of having all of the government jobs which we pay for based in Scotland. Senior staff in these departments and government agencies are overwhelmingly concentrated in the South East of England. The most obvious example of this is the many jobs at the Department of Energy dealing with the North Sea. The vast majority of these are presently in the London area. By bringing home the powers, we are also bringing home the jobs, with attendant benefits to the Scottish economy. Running these services ourselves will be more effective and efficient, and will mean that Scottish taxes are no longer subsidising a Government machine based in London's Whitehall. In Independence negotiations, Scotland will exercise its right to its share of the UK Government’s offices, land and other assets in Scotland and elsewhere, so that current “reserved” areas like social security and defence will continue to operate, but under the control of the Scottish Government. A Scottish Government will inherit a share of the assets of UK Government Departments and their Agencies. Many such Departments and Agencies already have offices and staff in Scotland, which could expect to form part of an independent Scottish Government – for instance the International Development Department Offices in East Kilbride, the Department of National Savings Offices in Glasgow and many others (see sections below). Independence is, of course, about getting rid of a layer of Government in Scotland – Westminster. That means Scots will no longer be forking out for expensive and unaccountable wings of UK Government like the House of Lords and the Scotland Office, or for massive government building projects in London like the House of Commons' Portcullis House. |
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