By stewartb

If Scotland was an independent nation-state I would think it perfectly reasonable – indeed necessary – to hold its parties and system of government to account in part through making public policy (input, process, output and outcome) comparisons with other broadly similar nation-states. However, so long as Scotland remains in Union, it is wholly appropriate – indeed necessary – to make such comparisons with other parts of the UK. It’s relevant to draw comparisons with those parts whose responsible national government has limited (devolved) powers. However, it is ESPECIALLY ‘interesting’ and relevant to compare Scotland (and NI and Wales) with England, the only UK nation whose responsible government is ALL powerful. Such comparisons are legitimate ways to benchmark one’s own government’s effectiveness, efficiency and economy in terms of public policy track record.

Source: Wales Online (September 10, 2025) Welsh council’s debt sees steep rise in just one year – figures show that debt at Merthyr Tydfil Council rose by £27.68m or 21.2% from 2023/2024 to 2024/2025 (https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/welsh-councils-debt-sees-steep-32450536 )

‘The analysis of figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) show UK councils owe a combined £122.2bn to lenders, equivalent to £1,791 per resident, as of April 2025.‘ And: ‘They also show that is up 7% from a total of £114.5bn, the equivalent of £1,677 per resident, a year ago.’

‘The total borrowing figure for Wales at the end of 24/25 was £6.43bn with the debt per person in Wales being £2,034.

Didn’t The Herald claim the equivalent aggregated debt figure for Scotland’s local authorities was (just) £1.5bn?

The Wales Online piece adds: ‘A total of 16 of the 22 Welsh local authorities saw an increase in debt from 2023/24 to 2024/25.’ And: The councils that saw the biggest increases in debt over this period were Torfaen (26.8%), Newport (22.34%) and Merthyr Tydfil (21.2%). In terms of other Welsh councils, Cardiff (Wales’ largest council) had the highest level of debt which went up by 1.39% to over £980m.’

£1.5bn debt for all of Scotland’s councils: nearly £1bn debt just for Cardiff!

Source: BBC News website (August 26, 2025) ‘Schools, care homes and sports clubs sold off to pay spiralling council debt’.

‘Communities across the UK are paying for spiralling levels of council borrowing with a fire sale of publicly owned facilities, a BBC study has found.

‘Schools, care homes, a boxing gym and even an Olympic legacy equestrian centre are among hundreds of buildings being sold as struggling councils seek to reduce a debt pile totalling £122bn. Chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU), Dr Jonathan Carr-West, said “public value” would continue to be eroded until the government came up with a long-term solution to council debt.’

Of English councils with the largest amount of debt per head of population,
Woking’s £2.16bn worth of debt is equivalent to more than £20,000 per person – double that of the next highest council. The average for England’s councils according to the BBC is £1,688 per head of population.

In mid 2024 Scotland’s population was estimated to be 5,546,900. If local government debt in Scotland is – according to The Herald – £1.5bn then the average debt equates to £270.40 per person. Merits no acknowledgement – at the very least – from The Herald?

Just imagine the potential electoral impact – and the Scottish electorate’s confidence in government from Holyrood – if The Herald and almost all the rest of the mainstream media in Scotland opted, as a matter of decent journalistic practice, to provide context and perspective rather than consistently avoiding doing so, presumably in the service of political parties and other interest groups that oppose self-determination for Scotland.