The so called ‘Barnett Formula” is the means by which public spending is divied up across the nations of the United Kingdom and has been used by successive governments for some 30 years. It has consistently granted the men and women of Scotland considerably more public dosh per head then the men and women of England whose taxes largely pay for it. And we are not talking loose change here – the difference, or ’subsidy’, can be as much as £1500 per person. It is, we have always been told, based on need.

Tony Blair (a Scot) refused to review Barnett as did his Chancellor, Gordon Brown (also a Scot). Now Brown (still a Scot) has the top job, he too refuses to listen to critics of the so called ‘formula’ citing the old mantra of dispersing funds based on need. Brown’s new Chancellor, the man with the dancing eyebrows, Alistair Darling, has also refused a debate and guess what – he’s a Scot. Even David Cameron, or Tony Blair Mark II, has stated quite categorically that the formula works and is here to stay. Poor old David is only a half-Scot and probably wasting his breath anyway as the voters north of the border will show at the next general election.

Is it a coincidence that for the last 11 years a government top-heavy in Scottish ministers, granted power by the weight of Scottish voters and repeatedly shafting the English with legislation (such as university tuition fees) that only applies to England but scrapes through Parliament by the votes of Scottish MPs, should consistently reward their homeland with an outrageous handout from the state purse? Stinks doesn’t it?

What stinks even more, are comments made today by the architect of the Barnett Formula in todays’ Telegraph.

The controversial scheme that gives each Scot a £1,500 subsidy every year from English taxpayers was concocted “almost on the back of an envelope”, its creator has admitted. Lord Barnett said there was nothing scientific about the system, which he revealed was based on “approximate” population figures for the regions of the United Kingdom in the 1970s.
He rejected Gordon Brown’s claim that the formula allocates Government money on the basis of need, and said the Prime Minister was too scared to overhaul it for fear of upsetting Scottish voters.