Barnett on Barnett
‘I only meant the Barnett formula to last a year, not 30’ - Times Online
Lord Barnett says the settlement that bears his name is unfair, divisive and has to be scrapped
..unfair to the regions of England....Successive governments have failed to deal with the issue for fear of upsetting the Scots. When David Cameron made his first trip to Scotland as Tory leader he assured the Scots that he would keep the formula.
That strikes me as absolutely stupid because Margaret Thatcher and John Major kept it going for 18 years and turned it into a formal formula only to lose every single seat that they had held in Scotland.
Alex Salmond is a very astute politician and has used the extra money his government received under the formula to almost exacerbate the problem, by spending the funds not necessarily where they are most needed, but in a populist way where they will make the English demand separation for Scotland, which exactly meets his objective.