Thread: I think something is going on here that merits a balanced & thoughtful perspective from all parties. It concerns the relative take up & therefore benefit to the economy from the exchequer of the furlough & self employed income support schemes in Scotland compared to UK:

Scotland's population share of the UK is c8.2%. Its take up of furlough is 6.9% & SEISS 5.6%. Assuming average claims are the same (may not be) this means that on current estimates, Scotland's economy could receive between £1.5-£2 billion less than the UK average. An estimate.

Partly explained by lower incidence of self-employment, partly explained by larger public sector. Government statisticians may be able to get the detailed numbers that I can only assess from current public sources. In any event there is proportionately less coming into Scotland.

If Scotland's parties behaved rationally in the national interest and as one the power of this fact should be deployed in discussions with the UK Government. For example on extensions to the scheme for hardest hit sectors that matter most here like tourism and hospitality.

This is by no means an attempt at grievance, the observation is just looking at the facts as far as I can make them out. This is emphatically NOT a complaint. But it is something that in all fairness could be considered when considering requests for budgetary balance.

Devolution as stands cannot financially cope with Covid or Brexit let alone both together. I would rather Scotland had the same responsibilities as the many small economies navigating this much more effectively than the UK. Denmark and New Zealand to name but two.

However in the meantime surely this presents an opportunity for Scotland's politicians to combine to present a case for resource in the name of equity and fairness? I do realise that twitter is not the best forum for such a call. But I put this out there for consideration.

My numbers are estimates and may be off depending on what happens in the coming months but I think the general point holds.