Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office

Oral Answers to Questions

Tommy Sheppard Excerpts
Wednesday 8th September 2021

(2 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Alister Jack Portrait Mr Jack
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I absolutely would agree with my hon. Friend. I would add that the recent “Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland” reports in August showed that the deficit last year for the Scottish budget was £36.3 billion. That is more than the Scottish Government spend on education, housing, transport, culture and health.

Tommy Sheppard Portrait Tommy Sheppard (Edinburgh East) (SNP)
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We know that for the past two years, the Government have been spending taxpayers’ money researching public opinion in Scotland on the state of the Union. For two years, I have been trying to get answers as to what that research says. For two years, the Cabinet Office has refused, including appealing to the court of law and bringing in outside consultants to fund its case. Is it not time, if the Secretary of State believes so much that the Union is such a wonderful thing, for him to tell us what he has found out about what Scottish people think about the state of the Union and publish this research?