PIPERS AND TUNES..

I see that Edinburgh University is going to charge students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland £9,000 for each of four years for their degree courses, meaning that those students will leave with a combined debt of £36,000.   Ouch!  On the other hand, if you`re a Scottish student or one from any of the other European Union countries, you will pay no student fees at all.   This is apparently due to current European anti-discrimination laws but there are no similar provisions to protect youngsters from the rest of the UK.

This is yet another in an increasingly long list of things whereby the Scots do very nicely, thank you, literally at the expense of the rest of us in the so called United Kingdom.   In Scotland there are free prescriptions, free elderly health care and now free university education for Scottish students.   It gets better.   The UK Government annual spending per person in Scotland amounts to £10,212, which is £1624 more than for each person in England.   It`s estimated that each family in England is paying £420 for the extra spending in Scotland.

Now I believe it`s the case that before the last election, George Osborne more or less promised to do something about these inequalities in spending between the constituent parts of the United Kingdom.   However, it`s all gone quiet and my guess is that the Tories seem happy to put up with these inequalities and the resultant growing resentment rather than face up to them and risk a schism that might threaten the Union if they do something about it.   The lesser of two evils, as they see it.

But I`m not sure that will do any longer.   If it`s the case that those of us in England are paying through our taxes to allow the Scots to have privileges we cannot enjoy ourselves then perhaps it`s time to remember that he who pays the piper calls the tune. At the moment it seems the other way round.  And while we`re at it and whilst nothing ever surprises me about the European Union, it surely cannot be right to have EU laws that so clearly discriminate against England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

I just wonder how long it will be before simmering resentment turns into something that forces the changes that are so clearly necessary.