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Institute for Fiscal Studies questioned on impact of further devolution

15 September 2015

On Tuesday 15 September the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee took evidence from the Institute for Fiscal Studies and Professor Iain McLean, Professor of Politics at the University of Oxford, as part of its inquiry into the devolution of public finances in the UK. The session followed the Committee's visit to Edinburgh where they took evidence from witnesses including Alistair Darling.

Witness

The session took place on Tuesday 15 September in Committee Room 1, Palace of Westminster.

At 3.35pm:

  • David Phillips, Senior Research Economist, Institute for Fiscal Studies

At 4.35pm:

  • Professor Iain McLean, Professor of Politics, Nuffield College, University of Oxford

Topics

Areas the Committee covered with the witnesses included:

  • How the block grant to Scotland should be calculated following further devolution and whether the Barnett formula should continue to have a role in allocating funding
  • Whether Scotland should receive further autonomy in its borrowing powers and what form should they take
  • The different tax raising powers proposed for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and what might be the public and business reaction if Scotland had a different rate of income tax to the rest of the UK
  • Whether evidence exists that devolution powers has a positive impact on economic growth
  • Whether full fiscal autonomy is feasible and how Scotland could shrink any fiscal gap it produced in its public finances.

Further information

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