Scottish referendum: Business must be part of the debate
Advocate General says Scottish businesses must not be intimidated from taking part in the independence debate.
Scottish businesses must not be intimidated from taking part in the independence debate, Advocate General for Scotland Lord Wallace QC will tell a CBI audience in Aberdeen today.
Following the recent row over what stance academics should be allowed to take in the debate, Lord Wallace said it was vitally important that 바카라 사이트榯rusted voices from academia and business give voters the benefit of their views and experience irrespective of which side of the debate they support바카라 사이트�.
He will say that 바카라 사이트榤any of us know from personal experience that when a message gets in the way of independence it often ends up with the messenger being in the firing line바카라 사이트�.
The Advocate General will also say that the presents some 바카라 사이트榰ncomfortable realities바카라 사이트� which the Scottish 바카라 사이트 must confront in their White Paper to be published on Tuesday.
Lord Wallace will say:
CBI Scotland and its members have already played a vitally important part in clarifying what those questions are 바카라 사이트� and let me say how grateful I am to you for choosing to engage in the debate from the outset. These are matters which are too important to be left only to politicians.
It is vitally important that trusted voices from academia and business give voters the benefit of their views and experience irrespective on which side of the debate they support.
Many of us know from personal experience that when a message gets in the way of independence it often ends up with the messenger being in the firing line. I urge you not to be intimidated out of this most important of debates.
Together, our economy is powered by a domestic market of 60 million individuals, rather than just 5 million. We have 4.5 million companies rather than 320,000 바카라 사이트� with no boundaries, no borders, no customs, but with a common currency, single financial system, and a single body of rules and regulations. The size and strength of the UK economy has enabled the UK 바카라 사이트 to support investment in the North Sea by offering tax reliefs and allowances equivalent to 拢3000 pounds for every man, woman and child in Scotland.
And by pooling our resources, we are better placed to meet some of the demographic challenges that we know we will face in the future. Funding pensions through contributions from the working populations of the whole of the UK is more sustainable than doing so in Scotland alone: you don바카라 사이트檛 need to be an expert economist to work that one out.
But while the UK 바카라 사이트 has taken seriously its duty to provide answers about Scotland바카라 사이트檚 place in the UK, the Scottish 바카라 사이트 has answered almost every tough question with the refrain: 바카라 사이트淲ait for the White Paper바카라 사이트�. On Monday the Institute for Fiscal Studies published a report analysing the fiscal sustainability of an independent Scotland.
The report highlighted - even based on a set of optimistic assumptions - an independent Scotland would face a more challenging fiscal outlook than the rest of the UK .
Their independent analysis reveals that, even on the most optimistic scenario, an independent Scotland would require cuts almost two and a half times as deep than if we stay in the UK.
That would mean either a 9 percentage point increase in the basic rate of income tax or a 6 per cent reduction in all public spending.
The Scottish 바카라 사이트 has to confront these uncomfortable realities in their forthcoming White Paper. The issues matter deeply to all businesses and households in Scotland.