Highlands and Islands Conservative MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston has said that the new Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) statistics have shown that independence would be a disaster for Moray.
Mr Halcro Johnston said: “The GERS statistics conclusively show that there is an enormous gap between what Scotland raises in tax and what it spends in public services, totalling nearly £2000 for every man, woman and child.
“In the event of independence Scotland would be facing a deficit greater than that of Romania and would be totally unable to meet the EU’s requirements for a budget deficit of below 3% without massive cuts in public spending.
“The SNP Scottish Government already underfunds Moray council, and independence would make that much worse as they would undoubtedly continue to favour the Central Belt as they sought savings elsewhere.
“Richard Lochhead’s recent claim that Scotland as “an independent country in the EU [would] gain influence within the EU and over [its] own future“ is a complete nonsense as we would have no choice but to do exactly what the EU tells us to do. And that would mean implementing massive cuts in public spending which would be a disaster for public services in Moray.
“It’s no wonder that Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP have been silent on these figures, because they blow an enormous hole in the case for a second independence referendum.”
