Devo Max

It's only three weeks into 2012 and already we'e got a new phrase coined - 'Devo Max', which you think would be a cold remedy, drain cleaner or the stage name of a male stripper, but in fact relates to the referendum on Scottish independence. Finally the Tory party has realised that they are about as welcome in Scotland as rabies, so Osborne and Cameron see political gain in fast tracking a referendum, ideally on a full split from the UK. 'Devo Max' is short for maximum devolution, why they had to swap it round is beyond me, unless they were worried about confusion with Max Payne, a successful computer game franchise. In Max Devo,  instead of gunning down bad guys with hot lead, the lead character bores them to death with debates on local income tax and government grants.

You see that is the problem with Scottish politics; it is unbelievably  boring and dull, even to the people elected to the Scottish parliament. Check this assertion by reviewing coverage of their sessions. Recovering heroin addicts, correction heroin addicts who have just jacked up, would have more get up and go that the average parliamentarian and might give better speeches. Tedium has served Alex Salmond, leader of the SNP, well  as under the cover of boredom he has been able to advance a set of claims and proposals that ought to provoke outrage amongst every non-Scottish citizen, except that none of us care.

We should listen and pay attention, because for too long Caledonian politics has existed as a parasitical enterprise, with all the self-control of banker's wife with her husband's black Amex who has just discovered his mistress. Thanks to Barnett formula, each year Scottish citizens receive at least £1,000 per capita more than English citizens, an annual transfer of £4.5 billion. Scottish nationalists might cite North Sea oil revenues; there is the small matter of the bank bail outs for RBS and HBOS, with liabilities the size of the UK GDP or perhaps the £100 millions a year spent on Scotrail. North of Hadrian's wall, it would be cheaper to provide chauffer-driven limos to every passenger that it would be to continue with this subsidy devouring money pit. If you live in the South East, think of that as you cram yourself onto the tube or the commuter lines so crowded it would be illegal to transport animals in such fashion; think of the net outflow of billions in tax revenue and spending from London to....Scotland.

Whatever way you slice the respective revenues, the case for further devolution rests not fiscal fairness alone but on remedying the democratic deficit. Scottish MPs sit in the UK parliament and vote on laws that affect England; yet English MPs may not vote on Scottish legislation passed in the Scottish parliament even though the revenues come from the UK Treasury. Known as the West Lothian question, most people might think the answer is where is West Lothian and aren't they a football team (near Edinburgh and no in case you needed to know).

The answer to the West Lothian question surely has to be 'devo max' or independence, the Scots should raise and spend their own taxes as far as is practical. Spending money without the responsibility of raising it is a recipe for immaturity and irresponsibility; ask any parent foolish enough to give their teenage offspring a credit card what happens next.

Time for Scottish politics to grow up. If the Scots want to waive tuition fees, then they must pay for it and their politicians must find a new guiding philosophy rather than endlessly asking the English if they can spare any change.