Quote of the day 27th November 2015

“The SNP’s model of independence is broken beyond repair. The party should either build a new one or stop offering it as an alternative to Tory cuts.”

Alex Bell, the SNP Government’s head of policy in the run-up to the independence referendum. He continued:

“The campaign towards the 2014 vote, and the economic information since, has kicked the old model to death. The idea that you could have a Scotland with high public spending, low taxes, a stable economy and reasonable government debt was wishful a year ago – now it is deluded.”

He also said that it was “debatable” whether a separate Scotland could maintain UK levels of spending.

We must assume, he added, that leading SNP figures – including Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney – now know that “the old model, once optimistic, is now dead”.

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