A REFORM UK MP has been condemned after calling Scottish devolution a “scam”.
Rupert Lowe, the party’s MP for Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, was speaking with former Ukip London Assembly member Peter Whittle on The New Culture Forum’s YouTube channel.
First clarifying that his policy positions often differ from those of his party, Lowe said that devolution is a “bad thing” that should be “reversed”.
He then added: “The Scottish Government is basically running a fraud funded by the British taxpayer through the Barnett formula.
“I think it’s a scam, the whole thing. The judiciary is in bed with the police. And the police are in bed with the politicians. The whole thing is just an awful example of devolution."
The SNP, meanwhile, have hit out at the Reform UK MP’s “ignorance”.
"With these remarks, not only is Rupert Lowe betraying his ignorance of how Scottish institutions work,” a spokesperson for the party said.
“But he is also making very clear that Reform are no friends of our national parliament, and no friends of Scotland.”
The Barnett Formula – introduced in the 1970s – is used by the UK Treasury to calculate annual block grants for the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish governments and is based on population size as well as the range of public services in each nation.
It calculates devolved budgets by using the previous year’s budget as a starting point, and then adjusting it based on increases and decreases in comparable spending per person in England.
But the system is often called out for not meeting the needs of each nation, with Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes previously calling Scotland’s fiscal framework a “straitjacket”.
Last month, meanwhile, the Scottish Affairs Committee said it would be investigating the Barnett formula — looking into how in-year changes to the Scottish Budget are forced by UK Government decisions and “fiscal events”.
The inquiry will further “explore the effectiveness of the wider financing of the Scottish Government, including the fiscal framework, block grant adjustments and the process for Barnett formula bypass”.
The inquiry is not due to examine budgetary choices made by the Scottish Government. That is a devolved role for the Holyrood parliament.
The Scottish Affairs Committee is supposed to focus on the work of the Scotland Office and other UK Government bodies – but the incoming Labour Government has signalled that it intends to break from convention and use it to increase pressure on SNP ministers as well.
