I have an article in the Scottish newspaper The Natiinal this morning, reflecting on the debate I took part in on BBC Radio Scotland yesterday.
I won't reproduce the whole article here. This was my conclusion:
If only Kevin Hague realised that all change for the better is dependent upon someone, somewhere sticking their head above the parapet and saying that things aren't good enough and could be improved, he'd have something much more useful to say. I'm happy to play that role of the person seeking change in this case, and I do so for good reason. The people and politicians of Scotland can have, and deserve, better data to inform the decisions they have to make. Kevin Hague must have his own good reasons for wishing to deny them that data. I'm not bothered as to what they are and why he says what he does. All I am interested in is getting that information so life in Scotland is better for everyone. I hope all politicians who are committed to the future of the country share that view and demand better data now.
The baffling question is, why wouldn't they?
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Fear.
As I said the other week, keep up the good work.
Transparency is all.
Thanks
Richard
Isn’t it ironic we have indy supporters effectively attacking the Scottish Governments position on GERS and unionists defending it..?
The SNP/SG needs to re-evaluate it’s position on GERS, it’s no longer credible and simply providing ammunition for those that revel in their assertion Scotland is an economic basket case.
I would hope they do realise this is a very real issue
But I stress, I am not making party political points, not on this an independence one either. I suggest all need this data
Listened to the debate yesterday.
It was great to listen to you, a professional/expert with no axe to grind in this debate, deliver some home truths to a man that Unionists hold as some kind of flag bearer for their cause.
Thanks for opening up GERS to further scrutiny as we try and progress our country forward.
I’m sure you know this but many people in Scotland are deeply grateful for your cool, clear, reasoned approach to the economics of Scotland. It makes a refreshing change. Thank you.
Thanks for speaking up, you’ve been more than interesting.
I am told there are similar GER figures for all four devolved administrations covering about 16% of the UK population, and that the cumulative effect of all these “GER” figures ascribes 59% of the UK deficit to that 16%. Can these deficit shares really be so?
In a word, no
Richard, what specific improvements do you want and have you actually
suggested them to the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser?
Do you advocate every company of sufficient size in the UK having to prodice
four sets of Corporation Tax returns and VAT returns, one each for England, Wales,
NI and Scotland?
It is easy to code destinations for sales into accounting systems: supplying destination based VAT analysis would take very little time
There have been 16 comments on-line to your article in The National. In case you, or any of your readers want to have a look at them here is the link
http://www.thenational.scot/news/15221027.Professor_Richard_Murphy__Kevin_Hague_thinks_Scotland_should_know_its_place_____I_don___t/#comments-anchor
I would like to add my vote of thanks too for your desire for transparency over such an important issue. Well done Professor Murphy.
Thanks Grace
Thank you for this post. I agree with you wholeheartedly and actually started researching background information on a couple of reportsthat came up. Thank you for this post.
Thanks you for your excellent work on GERS Richard.
I can’t think why anyone wouldn’t wish the true state of Scotland’s economy to be common knowledge. Try asking Ruth Davidson she might know.
What the hell is GERS, please? An unwelcome acronym.
Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland
I have a horrible feeling there is also a quite unwelcome joke (if it can be called that) in there
Great debate and another well-argued article, Richard and you got your point across very well on the radio (never easy to do). Kevin’s sneering was deeply unpleasant, but I’ve come to the conclusion that he likely did not know what you were talking about when you spoke of the country to country reporting.
If I hadn’t translated, rewritten and edited several guidance papers on this for a client of mine, I probably wouldn’t have understood either. It is indeed a world-changing issue and gave me great hope for the future that the tax avoidance powers of corporations may be curbed at last. Did you have anything to do with the wider work on BEPS as well?
Anyway, thanks for sticking your neck out for better data. As someone who favours an evidence-based approach to well, most things in life, I believe that good data is paramount in being able to making the right decisions.
CBCR was my creation
And I was heavily engaged in BEPS: someone had to go to Paris quite a lot!
Thanks for your comment
A good article. Just keep a cool head, you are of course now a target for the insults and aggression. Nil carborondum!
I’ve lived with that for many years