Smith Commission correction

REPORT in Daily Record on Smith Commission published November 27 2014.

In our report of November 27 we stated that the Smith Commission on Devolution would recommend that the Scottish Government budget should “nearly double” and that the current budget of about £30bn would rise to about £50bn.

This was based on a misunderstanding of information provided by a source close to the Smith report.

The estimated “doubling” related to the proportion of the budget raised from taxes devolved to the Scottish Government, rather than the overall size of the budget; the £50bn estimate for the “increased budget” was therefore incorrect.

The impact of the increased devolved powers such as tax, welfare, air passenger duty and Crown Estates budget is yet to be fully determined.