The FT has published the first part of what it says will be a series on the risk of the UK breaking up. The article considers the economic risks of Scotland becoming independent. It begins by saying:
An independent Scotland would inherit a large hole in its public finances because lower than expected tax revenues, Brexit and the coronavirus crisis have increased the country’s budget deficit, according to a Financial Times analysis. The analysis is depressingly familiar. The argument suggests that Scotland’s fiscal position has deteriorated since 2014 and that it now faces major budget deficits. Given that all such comments are, of course, based on assumptions as well as economic data, none of which are free from bias (meaning, of course, that I accept that I am not) I checked out what the sources for this article might be.
BBC News
By John Campbell
Published
image copyrightSteve Parsons/PA
image captionThe Fiscal Council will make an annual assessment of the NI Executive s revenue streams and spending proposals Like Glentoran signing Lionel Messi.
The world of Northern Ireland public finance rarely inspires hyperbole like that.
But it is how the economist Richard Ramsey described the appointment of the chairman of Stormont s new independent budget oversight body.
The fiscal Messi is Sir Robert Chote, the former chairman of the UK s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
Sir Robert became the OBR s first permanent chair in 2010, building it into a trusted independent body and showing himself to be a highly effective communicator.
BBC News
By John Campbell
Published
An independent budget watchdog for Stormont is to begin work shortly.
It will be chaired by Sir Robert Chote who spent 10 years as the chairman of the UK s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
He will be joined by Prof Alan Barrett, the director of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) in Dublin.
The other members are Northern Ireland-based economists Maureen O Reilly and Esmond Birnie.
The body, which to be known as the Independent Fiscal Council, will make an annual assessment of the Northern Ireland Executive s revenue streams and spending proposals.
It will also prepare an annual report on the sustainability of the executive s public finances, including the implications of spending policy and the effectiveness of long-term efficiency measures.
Monday Feb. 8. 13:15 GMT
UK lobster exporter Barron Shellfish is closing down its 60-year-old family business blaming Brexit red tape and hidden costs, The Guardian reports.
The company bought lobsters from businesses in Bridlington, exporting up to five tons a week of lobster to countries including Spain, Belgium and Italy.
Scottish salmon producers demand joint Brexit task force
Scottish salmon producers are calling for called for the creation of a cross-border government taskforce to resolve the Brexit related-bureacracy problems experienced by seafood businesses this year.
Tavish Scott, the Chief Executive of the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO), has taken the idea of an expert working group to Westminster and Scottish cabinet ministers.
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