The fiscal implications of an independent Scotland

At this event we will launch the first long term fiscal projections for an independent Scotland. This new research, which is part of a project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council on the UK and Scotland, will use information on demographic trends, tax revenues and spending patterns to look at fiscal scenarios for Scotland and the UK over the next fifty years and their sensitivity of the projections to key assumptions over long-term growth, the cost of government borrowing and the level of net migration. We will provide a clear illustration of the fiscal pressures facing an independent Scotland, how these are similar to, and different from, those facing the rest of the UK, and the options available to an independent Scotland to achieve fiscal sustainability.

Other presentations will focus on tax and spending as we aim to clarify some of the fiscal opportunities and constraints that would face Scotland were it to become independent.

This event will take place in Symposium Hall (King Khalid Building), the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. Registration will take place between 09:30 and 10:00 and the event is expected to conclude by 12:30. A sandwich lunch will follow and delegates will have the opportunity to meet the research team.

This project forms part of 'The Future of the UK and Scotland', a research programme funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. It brings the best of UK social science to the debate about Scotland’s constitutional future and its implications for the rest of the UK. For further information please visit the programme website.