A SCOTTISH Labour MP has labelled Scotland a “region” which benefits from the redistribution of London’s wealth.
Paul Sweeney, who represents the Glasgow North East constituency, said on the Tysky Sour podcast that Scotland said Scotland currently gets a good deal from devolution.
Speaking on the Tysky Sour podcast – part of independent media company Remainers’ Revenge – Sweeney said: “Scotland has benefitted and continues to benefit [from being part of the Union].
“So, for example, every year Scotland has a net benefit of £10 billion of a fiscal transfer.
“That’s the equivalent of the entire NHS budget in Scotland.”
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Host Michael Walker then asked Sweeney if he thought Scotland gets a good deal under the current devolution settlement.
The Labour MP replied: “Yes. Yes, absolutely.
“Pretty much all regions of the UK … you know, London essentially generates the wealth and it is redistributed to other regions of the UK.”
Walker then suggested to Sweeney that his outlook was “somewhat one-dimensional”, given that the Union is set up so that London makes and takes in most of the money before distributing it around the country.
In such a set-up, there will always be a net distribution out of the economic epicentre.
It has lead some to point out that this is the limit of many Unionists’ ambitions, or as Scottish football pundit Michael Stewart put it on Twitter: “This is the essence of many Unionists’ view of Scotland.
“They see us as being subsidised and too poor to be a normal Independent country.
“They may talk about a positive vision for Scotland in the UK, but it doesn’t really exist. It’s an inherently negative vision of Scotland.”
Watch the exchange below:
"London essentially generates the wealth, and it's redistributed to other regions of the UK... " Paul Sweeney.
— Robert (@RobDunsmore) May 8, 2019
- "Isn't that a somewhat one dimensional way of looking at it though... " pic.twitter.com/r7mlAKEKQ3
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