News Highlights

Independent Experts Group, Chaired by Principal Anton Muscatelli, publishes reports to the Calman Commission

Two reports published today argue that Scottish Ministers should have limited borrowing powers but warn this creates new risks and challenges. They also confirm the technical feasibility of assigning North Sea tax revenues to the Scottish Parliament but show this would change the current financial relationship between Scotland and the rest of the UK.

Speaking in Edinburgh, Professor Anton Muscatelli, Principal of Heriot-Watt University, presented the two reports by the Independent Expert Group, which he Chairs. The Group was convened last year to provide impartial advice and evidence to support the Commission on Scottish Devolution, and comprises experienced and pre-eminent academics and practitioners from the UK, Europe and North America.

For press releases on the two reports, ‘Should Scottish Ministers be Able to Borrow’ and ‘Natural Resource Taxation and Scottish Devolution’, please follow the links below.

To access the reports themselves please go to:

http://www.hw.ac.uk/reference/ieg-borrow.pdf

http://www.hw.ac.uk/reference/ieg-natural-resource-taxation.pdf