Robert Henderson
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04033/
Public spending by country and region
This note provides information on levels of public spending per head in the countries and regions of the UK.
Download the full report
- Public spending by country and region (PDF, 386 KB)
In 2018/19, public spending per person in the UK as a whole was £9,584. In England, it was £9,296 (3% below the UK average). This compares with:
- Scotland: £11,247 (17% above the UK average)
- Wales: £10,656 (11% above the UK average)
- Northern Ireland £11,590 (21% above the UK average).
Among the English regions, public spending per person was lowest in the South East and East Midlands at £8,601 (10% below the UK average) and highest in London at £10,425 (9% higher than the UK average).
Extrapolations from the official figures
Scotland gets £1951 more than England per capita
Scotland has a population of 5,438,100
£1951 x 5,438, 100 = £10,609,733, 100 more than Scotland would get if their per capita Treasury funding was the same as England’s
Wales gets £1360 more than England per capita
Wales has a population of 3,138, 600
£1360 x 3,138, 600 = £4,268,496,000 more than Wales would get if their per capita funding was the same as England’s.
NI has £2,294 more than England per capita
NI has a population of 1,881,600
£2,294 X 1,881,600 = £4,316,390,400 more than NI would get if their per capita funding was the same as England’s.
Total of the direct annual English subsidy to the Celts £19.3 Billion approx
The English subsidy to the Celts is considerably more for various reasons:
– the tax take of the Celtic Fringe is less per capita than England
– The Barnett Formula
-The large number of English public service jobs which have been exported to the Celtic Fringe.
Perhaps if these people want their independence we should give it to them; provided that the subsidies end and they have to stand on their own. Somehow I can’t see Sturgeon accepting those terms but it needs to be made clear that is the only way.
On the other hand maybe they should forget independence and the Scottish Parliament and the Assemblies should be terminated, again saving the English taxpayer money. They were a stupid idea in the first place.