These Islands

“At the heart” of the SNP’s new campaign for independence will be an argument that is straightforwardly false.

Scottish renewables are absolutely not “low-cost”. On average, they are high-cost, and depend on being able to defray those high costs across all GB bill payers.

John Swinney’s decision to set an extremely high bar for another independence referendum is completely consistent with what he said back in 2014. Here is Swinney being quite adamant that there wasn’t going to be another referendum if Scotland voted no.

Shona Robison refused an invitation to explain her push for full fiscal autonomy before the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee. Given her flailing performances giving evidence to Holyrood committees, probably a wise decision. Albeit a pathetic one.

Zonal Pricing: What Happened? Zonal pricing of electricity is not going to happen. At least not any time soon. The UK Government’s decision, part of the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) process, which it inherited ...

Remember those claims about zonal pricing giving Scottish households the cheapest electricity in Europe? Well… they were not true. Read this to understand why:

Zonal Pricing: What Happened? Zonal pricing of electricity is not going to happen. At least not any time soon. The UK Government’s decision, part of the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) process, which it inherited ...

Everything you always wanted to know about zonal pricing. Plus why the SNP is incoherent and unserious on electricity market reforms.

Zonal Pricing: What Happened? Zonal pricing of electricity is not going to happen. At least not any time soon. The UK Government’s decision, part of the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) process, which it inherited ...

Three years of intense lobbying from supporters and opponents of zonal pricing is over. Which camp did the SNP belong to? And why? Did some of the lobbying exaggerate the truth? And does the SNP have a coherent vision for electricity market reform?

Zonal Pricing: What Happened? Zonal pricing of electricity is not going to happen. At least not any time soon. The UK Government’s decision, part of the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) process, which it inherited ...

I have seen quite a bit of b*!!*cks talked on @bsky.app about the issue of electricity pricing. This article from @staylorish.bsky.social is really useful in understanding what zonal pricing is really about www.these-islands.co.uk/publications... (1/2)

Zonal Pricing: What Happened? Zonal pricing of electricity is not going to happen. At least not any time soon. The UK Government’s decision, part of the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) process, which it inherited ...

Three years of intense lobbying from supporters and opponents of zonal pricing is over. Which camp did the SNP belong to? And why? Did some of the lobbying exaggerate the truth? And does the SNP have a coherent vision for electricity market reform?

Scotland’s trade deficit was -12.7% of GDP in 2024 (the UK’s was -1.1% of GDP). Do SNP politicians who blithely talk about independence and a new currency even know this, let alone understand the consequences?

The £5 billion fiscal hole giving Rachel Reeves headaches after the benefits u-turn is just 0.18% of GDP. Scottish independence (or full fiscal autonomy) would create a fiscal hole for Scot Gov of about 10% of GDP - a problem 57 times larger than the one Reeves is wrestling with.

Laughable new position on Westminster austerity. The Scottish Government is now officially unsure about whether or not it has ended.

Shirley-Anne Somerville believes that if Scotland was independent, Scot Gov wouldn’t need to spend money to eliminate the 2-child cap.

The 2-child cap is a policy which stops money being spent. If you want to do away with it, you have to spend money. Whether independent or not.

Ivan McKee says civil service workforce will shrink by 4-5% per year until 2030 and Perm Secretary “talked about the specifics on that” on Tuesday. But the Perm Secretary told the Finance committee there were no specifics. Does this government actually know what it’s doing?

“This is from a campaign that can’t even tell you what currency Scotland would be using post independence, let alone how we would spend that currency on healthcare.”

Andrew Bowie makes a fair point in response to a typically facile argument for independence from Lesley Riddoch.

Michael Marra asks the Permanent Secretary, Joe Griffin, about the appropriateness of civil servants working on the fantastical demands Scottish Government ministers frequently make of the UK Government. Griffin appears to have barely considered the question before. (Part 1/2)

No Scottish Government officials are working on Full Fiscal Autonomy. I wonder if that’s because it is so obviously a good idea? Or so obviously a calamitous idea? (Richard McCallum is the Scottish Government’s Public Spending Director)

Roughly half of the civil servants employed by the Scottish Government in its core directorates are “managers” or “team leaders”. And half of them only manage one or two people. What a farcical situation.

Dieter Helm, with a typically provocative take on the zonal pricing debate.

1/ In May 2022, Kate Forbes made a significant pledge: Scot Gov would reset the public sector, returning the size of the workforce to pre-Covid levels, & freezing the pay bill. Here she discusses the plan at a June 2022 meeting of the Finance & Public Administration Committee.🧵

If Scot Gov achieves its ambition of full fiscal autonomy within the current constitutional arrangements, would it apply fiscal rules aligning with the broad principles of the EU Growth and Stability Pact?

Pretty important question, right? Scot Gov’s answer: we don’t know. 🤯

Kate Forbes is absolutely right about this. But has she, or anyone else in the SNP, thought carefully about what it (and Scotland’s huge trade deficit) would mean for the exchange rate of the new currency they are eager to launch? On the evidence of the independence papers: no.

Nigel Farage is doing well in Scotland. And why should that be so hard to imagine?

www.economist.com/britain/2025...

The Economist has written about Scottish nationalism, and there will be howls of indignation from the usual suspects. But who can credibly deny that Scotland is a land of unchecked fantasies and make-a-wish politics?

The rise of Nigel McFarage Reform UK fractures the myth of progressive Scotland

“In a small country, to doubt the governing party’s founding cause could be career-limiting. Fantasies went unchecked. And so if Mr Farage finds his make-a-wish politics thrives there, it is because the SNP has weakened the country’s immune system.”🎯 🎯 🎯

In the space of three days, Lesley Riddoch has gone from campaigning for more grid infrastructure in the Highlands to campaigning for less grid infrastructure in the Highlands.

A new nadir in the Scottish Parliament, as Lorna Slater reads out AI chatbot responses in a debate on taxation policy.

“A fiscal squeeze better dealt with if we are fully in charge of our nation’s finances.”

The only genuinely interesting line in Swinney’s speech today. Accepting that an independent Scotland would have to deal with fiscal squeeze is unusual, and won’t please SNP activists.

Excellent. This means the fiscal plan must be imminent, and they are preparing to level with voters that independence means their state pension being paid in a new currency of highly uncertain value…

It’s a good job the Scottish Government is full of highly competent people, because they have not sought any outside advice on the wisdom of full fiscal autonomy…

The SNP’s campaign to redefine the word austerity reaches its apotheosis. Austerity will henceforth be understood to mean any circumstance in which the SNP does not get everything it wants.