Kevin Hague

Kevin Hague is an entrepreneur and the chairman of the think tank, These Islands.

Saturday

Kevin Hague

We need to talk about Scotland

From our UK edition

The Scottish government has published the first instalment of its new independence prospectus, a paper with the remarkably verbose title: ‘Building a New Scotland - Independence in the Modern World. Wealthier, Happier, Fairer: Why Not Scotland?’ Scottish government resources have been diverted away from the tedious day-to-day business of running the country to produce this paper and Scotland’s First Minister has taken time out from her busy schedule of talking about independence to hold a press conference to announce that ‘it is time to talk about independence’, so I felt duty bound to sit and study what has been produced.

Monday

Kevin Hague

Independence case is built on myths, denial and conspiracy theories

From our UK edition

Anyone who engages in online debate about the case for Scottish independence will have encountered Scottish nationalist fact-deniers and myth-spreaders lurking on social media. They are not interested in engaging in serious debate; their ambition is simply to give their side licence to ignore basic economic facts. Keen to understand the true scale of this problem, we at These Islands commissioned Survation to poll Scottish voters about their understanding of basic economic facts and their attitudes towards some widely-circulated myths. We were dismayed to learn that economic fact-denial has spread far beyond the swampy backwaters of social media and is now mainstream among Scottish independence supporters.

Tuesday

Kevin Hague

Leaving the Union would harm Scotland more than Brexit

From our UK edition

The Spectator recently ran a piece by Andrew Wilson, author of the SNP’s Sustainable Growth Commission, under the headline 'Scotland can’t afford to remain part of the Union'. For those seeking any fresh insight into either the moral or economic case for breaking up the United Kingdom, it was thin gruel.  Instead of coherent arguments, we were offered bold and unsubstantiated assertions. We are asked to believe that the separatists’ position is 'highly sophisticated' and that because of Brexit, 'staying in the Union is riskier than independence'.

Wednesday

Kevin Hague

Scotland’s deficit figures show that the UK works

From our UK edition

Last month, the Scottish Government published their annual Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) report. The figures were good news for those Scots who believe in the value of pooling and sharing resources across the UK, bad news for those who believe Scotland should be independent (or for some reason needs to be fiscally autonomous). The UK’s deficit is running at 2.4 per cent of GDP and, because Scotland voted No in 2014, that fiscal context determines Scotland’s ability to sustain spending on vital public services. By contrast, Scotland’s notional stand-alone deficit according to GERS is 8.4 per cent. The EU’s ‘excessive deficit’ threshold is 3.0 per cent.