The Lords Barnett Formula Debate

I haven’t seen any reporting on the House of Lords Debate on the Barnett Formula that happened yesterday except this from epolitix urging reform to counter the threat from the SNP.

Labour peer Lord Barnett, who invented the Barnett formula as chief secretary to the Treasury in the 1970s, said he had not expected it to last for three years let alone 30.

Lord Barnett made his comments in a debate on a select committee report on the formula which recommends it is replaced with a new system based on an assessment of "explicit needs".

"If we don't do something about it soon the only people who will benefit from this are the people who want to break up the UK like the SNP in Scotland," Lord Barnett told peers.

"I hope whoever is in power after the next election they will implement the recommendations of this report - it is vital for this country."

He said it was not a tribute to the formula that it has lasted so long. "It is a tribute to the fact that governments of all persuasions don't like to make the major changes that are needed," he said. "It is not just New Labour it is everyone else as well."

Tory former chancellor Lord Lawson of Blaby said: "The public expenditure per head in Scotland is 27 per cent higher than the public expenditure per head in England and there is no rational justification for that whatsoever."

He said that instead of a "convergence" between expenditure in the two countries, there would be "divergence" because of differing rates of population growth.

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Newby his party had accepted the conclusion of the report.

He called on the Tories to say they would go further than the government and "move in the direction of this excellent report" if they took power.

For the government, Lord Davies of Oldham said the issues around the Barnett formula could not be "resolved in the short term".

He said Welsh Secretary Peter Hain was concerned about the effect of the formula and was meeting the chancellor, Alistair Darling, to "emphasise that the Barnett formula does bring very substantial disadvantages to Wales which does need to be addressed".

He added: "It requires a great deal of consideration and a government with a significant mandate for reform—one who have the power to look at issues over the long term."
Any source