With an amusing lack of self-awareness, Kate Forbes, the Deputy First Minister of Scotland, has warned that the UK Government’s recent decision to increase employers national insurance risks harming economic growth and lacks “basic competence”.

The worrying thing about this is that Kate Forbes along with Fergus Ewing are normally the SNP MSPs most in touch with economic reality.

Forbes is correct when she says the rise in employers national insurance will harm economic growth. The extra tax will reduce private sector employment, curtail the ability of companies to invest, raise inflation and keep interest rates higher for longer.

As is its usual habit, the Scottish Government rages that the UK Government has not provided enough extra funding through the Barnet formula to meet the full cost to public bodies in Scotland of the increased national insurance. This is like arguing, if petrol were rationed, that you deserve more than others because you have a bigger car. The answer of course is to get a smaller car.

The reason the Barnet formula, usually very generous to Scotland, is unhelpful in this case is that we have a higher proportion of public sector employees than the UK as a whole and they are paid more. Instead of seeking to increase efficiency in the public sector, we ignore the need for reform and just hold out the begging bowl. This is not........

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