Coach Wright

This is a masterclass in statistical lying to manufacture a constitutional grievance. You claim the Prime Minister is taking “up to £4bn from Scotland's pensioners to pay for social care in England”, but your own Deputy First Minister’s letter admits that £4bn figure is an unadjusted cash-terms extrapolation for 2049–50, nearly a quarter of a century away. Terrifying pensioners today with compounding spreadsheet projections for 24 years in the future is cynical politics. More importantly, the claim that Scottish money is going south to fund English care is completely fabricated. Social care is fully devolved. If the UK Government invests money into an English National Care Service, the Barnett formula automatically triggers massive, proportional block grant windfalls straight into Holyrood's bank account. Scotland doesn't pay for English care; Holyrood gets a cash payout because of it. The ultimate irony is that Scotland’s population is ageing faster than the rest of the UK. Scottish pensions are currently underwritten by a 68-million-strong UK tax base and an annual £25.3bn UK Treasury fiscal transfer. If Scotland were independent, facing a 10% structural deficit without a central bank, you couldn't maintain existing state pensions on Day 1, let alone in 2050. Honest John?😂