The Scottish Government published their annual Government Expenditure & Revenue Scotland report this week, which shows the difference between total revenue and total
public sector spending in Scotland.
The figures for 2022-2023 showed that people in Scotland are continuing to benefit from levels of public spending substantially above the United Kingdom average.
And even in a year of exceptional North Sea Revenues, Scotland’s deficit is still more than £19 billion, demonstrating how the country continues to benefit from being part of
a strong United Kingdom, with the vital pooling and sharing of resources that the Union brings.
Commenting on the figures, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said:
The Scottish Government’s own figures show yet again how people in Scotland benefit hugely from being part of a strong United Kingdom.
Scotland’s deficit is more than £19billion - even in a year of exceptional North Sea Revenues. Without oil and gas, that figure soars to more than £28billion.
People in Scotland benefit to the tune of £1,521 per person thanks to higher levels of public spending.
As we face cost of living pressures and unprecedented global challenges it is clear Scotland is better off as part of a strong United Kingdom.
Background
-Total expenditure for the benefit of Scotland increased from £97,380 million in 2021-22, to £106,635 million in 2022-23.
-Although spending as a share of GDP has fallen from the peak seen during 2020-21, it remains above 50% of GDP, and around 5 percentage points higher than prior to the pandemic.
-These figures show that public spending continued to increase driven by debt interest payments, business and household support to deal with the rising cost of living. Overall, Scotland benefited from at least an additional £4.5 billion in reserved spending in 2022-23. *Public expenditure per person in Scotland in 2022-23 was £2,217 higher than the UK average. This was nearly unchanged from £2,222 in 2021-22.
-The continuing high global energy prices resulted in significantly growing North Sea (NS) revenues. The total UK NS revenues grew by £7.9 billion over the last year to around £10.6bn in 2022-23 (joint-high with 2008-09).
-The rise in NS revenues resulted in a new record high for Scotland’s illustrative geographic share at £9.4 billion (previous high £8.9bn in 2008-09).
-The figures from the Scottish Government show that Scotland’s notional deficit fell (including geographical NS revenues) from £24,899 billion in 2021-22 to £19,139 billion in 2022-23. This is 9% of Scotland’s entire economy and compares to a 5.2% deficit for the UK.
-Without NS revenues this deficit increases to £28.5 billion or 15.1% as a share of Scotland’s GDP.
-Including an illustrative geographical share of North Sea revenue, revenue per person in Scotland increased above the UK average for the first time since 2014-15. In 2022-23, revenue per person was £696 higher than the UK average compared to 2021-22 when revenue per head was £498 lower than the UK average. This shows the higher variability when North Sea revenues are included. Photo by Chris McAndrew, Wikimedia commons.