by Rab Bruce’s Spider

Jeremy Corbyn has announced that Scotland would see turbo-charged Austerity if it became independent. His views on Scottish independence remain as baffling as ever, since he is in favour of a united Ireland and a free Palestine, yet insists Scotland must not be allowed to become a normal country.

As for the Austerity claim, it is equally baffling that someone who allegedly took economic advice from the excellent Richard J Murphy actually believes this nonsense. Austerity is an ideological choice, driven by political desire. It has been implemented by the Tories on the spurious excuse that the UK needs to operate a budget surplus, so costs must be cut. They continue to espouse the false analogy that a nations’ finances are similar to a household’s budget, ignoring the fact that the Government controls the money supply, and can raise funds from a variety of sources, not solely from personal income tax.

In fact, the cuts to Social Security are proving totally ineffective in controlling costs and are merely inflicting harm on the most vulnerable people in our society. Austerity is a failed policy, and has little to do with economic necessity. The USA spent its way out of the great economic Depression of the 1920s and 1930s, and there is no reason why the UK could not do the same if money were spent on sensible projects instead of being wasted on things like HS2 and Trident.

Unless Jeremy Corbyn was asleep when Richard Murphy was explaining this to him, he knows that Austerity is a choice. So his comment is nothing more than scaremongering, announced because he is unable to shake off the imperialist attitude of most Westminster politicians when it comes to Scotland. Perhaps Richard Murphy could have a word with him.