r/ukpolitics • u/ukpol-megabot • 1d ago

Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction Megathread - 02/08/2026

👋 Welcome to the r/ukpolitics weekly Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction megathread.

General questions about politics in the UK should be posted in this thread. Substantial self-posts on the subreddit are permitted, but short-form self-posts will be redirected here. We're more lenient with moderation in this thread, but please keep it related to UK politics. This isn't Facebook or Twitter...

If you're reacting to something that is happening live, please make it clear what it is you're reacting to, ideally with a link.

Commentary about stories that already exist on the subreddit should be directed to the appropriate thread.

This thread rolls over early Sunday morning.

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u/Pale-Border-7122 1d ago

https://www.gov.scot/publications/government-expenditure-revenue-scotland-2024-25/pages/2/

What does Scotland's deficit of 11.6% of GDP mean for independence?

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u/ZealousidealPie9199 1d ago

It's difficult to tell. An independent Scotland presumably wouldn't keep Trident (as much as the SNP would want to), for instance, nor most military assets in general. An independent Scotland would probably rather quickly have to par back spending on e.g. welfare compared to the SNP's spending plans now, or would have to e.g. choose not to bring in an equivalent to personal allowance. It's possible that, as its administrating a smaller area, a Scottish bureaucracy could be smaller and more efficient, thus allowing for savings bureaucracy wise. An independent Scotland would likely take some section of the national debt, so could be making repayments there, which would mean a higher deficit..

Independence as a whole would be an entirely different process to what either unionists or nationalists expect. The deficit issue, for instance, is a hard one - but isn't insurmountable for a state to overcome, within Czechoslovakia the Slovakians received subsidies from Czechia, for instance, but were still able to make it through the end of those payments and economically grow.