Dundee LibDems say SNP sums don't add up
Dundee East Liberal Democrat parliamentary spokesperson Dr Clive Sneddon today (Wednesday 29th November) welcomed the recent research by Scottish Liberal Democrat President Malcolm Bruce MP which shows that claims by the SNP Leader Alex Salmond that Scotland can raise £100m by creating a Norwegian-style oil fund are simply misconceived.
Dr Sneddon said, "The principal difference is that Norway uses its oil fund for capital investment for the future, after paying for day-to-day expenses. Even if all North Sea oil revenues came to Scotland, there would still be a Scottish deficit of £7bn a year, which implies an income tax rate of 25p to bridge the gap before there is any surplus to save in a capital fund.
"Alex Salmond proposes to use his fund for health and education, but if that means a civil servant checking the price of oil to see if a vital operation or a new teacher can be afforded, he will find that he can only afford additional expenditure when oil prices are high and will have to make cut backs when prices fall.
Dr Sneddon concluded, "Dundee voters need to know whether or not the SNP can actually manage to improve health and education with the money which will be available to the Scottish Executive next May. Liberal Democrats in power have shown they can deliver improvements which make a difference."