Gavin Yates (Edinburgh, GYmedia) The Smith Institute, often cited as Gordon Brown’s favoured think-tank has released a paper gaining publicity today calling for the end of the Barnett Formula. Lord Sewel, the former Scottish Office minister who wrote the report says that a new formula is needed that is based upon need rather than population.
The paper forms part of a booklet Towards a New Constitutional Settlement.
Lord Sewel, now Professor Emeritus at Aberdeen University, said: "Barnett served the UK well prior to devolution and was important in enabling a smooth transition to be made to devolved government. Its lack of transparency is, at least in part, the reason for it being perceived as a cause of grievance between England and Scotland. It served the UK well. It has now outlived its usefulness.”
There was further controversy as the Herald reports the latest Treasury figures show everyone in England receives £6,949 in public spending per head while Scotland gets £8,414. Labour backbenchers called for reform and dismissed the PM’s plan for regional committees.
Graham Stringer, the Labour MP for Manchester Blackley, said regional committees, did "not deal with the fundamental problem: that people living in Glasgow or Aberdeen have more money spent on them by a factor of about a third than those in Manchester and they can vote for - at a level below the national parliamentary level - people to make decisions on the health service and planning, which people in Manchester can't".
He went on: "Until the democratic deficit and the amount of money is put right, then I don't think these proposals by Gordon will be anything but a talking shop."
