Summary
No university tuition fees, free personal care for the elderly, reduced prescription charges. In all sorts of ways, Scotland seems to have kept a level of public service the rest of the UK is denied. How has this happened, and can Scotland continue to enjoy this as overall UK spending is cut? Will English resentment grow if Scotland is seen to be enjoying an unfair advantage? Or can the SNP persuade Scots that their economic vision will deliver a public service paradise? And how will all this flow into the increasingly urgent debate about Scotland's constitutional future after the SNP's recent electoral success? Instead of all the theoretical debate about Scottish independence, Anne McElvoy discovers the hard bargaining already underway about who gets the best UK deal, and who pays for it - a deal that will be crucial in deciding whether the UK will survive.
Presenter: Anne McElvoy Producer: Chris Bowlby.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC |
| 0:35.4 | Sounds. |
| 0:36.4 | Thank you for downloading this podcast from the BBC. |
| 0:39.6 | For Terms and Conditions, please go to our website. In this edition of analysis, the Scottish |
| 0:45.2 | National Party won recent elections decisively promising to move Scotland further |
| 0:49.9 | towards independence, but the economic downturn is posing new challenges. |
| 0:55.3 | Anne McElvoy asks how far Scotland is becoming a place apart. Here in Scotland you might think you're in a place that's magically escaped the worst of the downturn. |
| 1:07.0 | I've just walked past a university where Scottish students aren't paying tuition fees. |
| 1:12.0 | Elderly people get free personal care, not like south of |
| 1:15.6 | the border. So how has Scotland bucked the trend when it comes to tightening public spending |
| 1:20.4 | in a downturn? And can it continue? And where does this leave the bigger debate |
| 1:25.4 | about how far Scotland can go it alone now that the SMP have the wind in their |
| 1:30.0 | sails? Elsewhere in these islands the tolerance of the poor is being tested. Budget slash |
| 1:36.1 | priorities changed, hope crushed in the braintones of people who claim to know best. We should |
| 1:41.5 | aspire to be different. |
| 1:44.0 | That was Alex Salmon celebrating his triumph in May's Scottish elections. |
| 1:48.5 | He's pledging to hold a referendum on Scottish independence in the lifetime of this Scottish Parliament, though the opinion |
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