This looks at three myths about Scottish independence:

MYTH 1: You'll have had your referendum.

MYTH 2: Scotland has a huge deficit because we spend too much on public services. 

MYTH 3: The costs of establishing Scotland as an independent country will be huge. 

Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) is an annual estimate of the Scottish economy as part of the United Kingdom.[1][2] It was first published in 1992, and ye

Published annually, the report details the difference between Scotland’s tax revenues and its public service expenditure.

The possible financial costs and risks, or savings and opportunities, of implementing a new constitutional framework are, naturally, not considered in GERS. Similarly, it does not report on the effects of faster or slower economic growth in an independent Scotland.

There is no question that an independent Scotland could run a sustainable budget. But like the UK, an independent Scotland would face major fiscal challenges both in the short and long run. Based upon the latest data, an independent Scotland is likely to face greater challenges than the UK as a whole (at least in the short-term).

There is no set of official accounts that tells us how an independent Scotland’s economy would fare, nor what its finances would look like. Any attempt to analyse Scotland’s finances is instantly hampered by the fact that Scotland is not an independent nation and therefore does not have the same financial data, trade statistics, costs and revenue information available to work with that a normal independent country would have.

The accounts don’t suggest Scotland is in debt at all. People just don't understand how to analyse the UK Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland report (GERS).

A poll for Prospect Scotland found that 75% of Scottish voters would vote for independence if they felt that the economic plan for an independent Scotland meant we would be better off. 

The large debts shown by the 2020/1 GERS are temporary and not structural.  They do not indicate that Scotland cannot afford to be inedpendent.

GERS (Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland) 2015/16 reported Scotland’s fiscal deficit to be in the region of £14 billion per year, portraying Scotland as the country experiencing some of the most challenging financial circumstances in Europe.

However, this study must be viewed firmly in the light of Scotland being a member nation of the United Kingdom and, as such, any attempt to use them to project the finances of an independent Scotland must be treated with caution and qualification.

The UK Government has diverted Scotland’s wealth to the UK Treasury to pay off its debts.  Thus it creates 100% of Scotland’s supposed debts and 100% of its phoney deficit. This is the impact of Westminster’s debt loading alone, and upon that accounting trick, rests the entire economic case for the Union.  Would an independent Scotland have to pay the rUK a population share of the UK’s historical debt?  No – there is in fact a very strong case for Scotland to be compensated for having already paid more than it’s “fair share” of the UK’s debt

The Common Weal Think-tank analysis of GERS 2017 reveals the economic opportunities of Scottish independence

Modest estimates by Common Weal show that an independent Scotland could be better off to the tune of at least £7.5 billion in comparison to the figures in the GERS paper published today effectively cutting the deficit by over half.

Latest GERS (UK Government's Expenditure and Revenue Report for Scotland) figures have been released. The author sets out what the figures represent and how they can be misleading in terms of Scotland's capabilities as an independent nation.