Ooof, that was a bit of a break in posting.
There I was in the middle of a planned 2-part post, and suddenly it's nearly 3 months later. This new job does that to you.
What has brought me back?
(a) the Easter holiday
(b) the fact that the estimable and formidable Alan Cochrane and his cohorts at the Daily Telegraph have been able to break and confirm one of the best anti-SNP stories for ages.
They've got hold of the document about LIT (Local Income Tax), the release of which the Fat Minister has been spending so much public money trying to block. For some reason, the online edition of the Tele doesn't have an image of the document; never mind, here it is:
This goes back to the Nats' proposal for LIT at the 2007 election. It turns out that after they got into office, the official Chief Economic Adviser told them that their policy was incoherent and unaffordable; the promised 3% rate of LIT would leave a shortfall (compared to the existing Council Tax) of around £400m, even if the Treasury could be persuaded to transfer Council Tax Benefit (claimed by and paid to individuals, on the basis of need) to the Holyrood budget. (The basis for this was, of course, never explained.)This just goes to prove what some of us have always thought - the Nats' 2007 manifesto was never meant to be implemented. They didn't expect to win, so thought they could just bluff, bluster and lie, thinking they would never have to deliver on the big promises.
The big question for 2011, of course, is whether they are now any different.
If they lied in 2007, what are they lying about now?
