
THE Scottish budget gap could soar to £16 billion a year in the coming decades unless Holyrood ministers take action to tackle the ill-health of the country’s increasingly elderly population, according to a new report.
The independent Scottish Fiscal Commission’s (SFC) latest fiscal sustainability report looks at the long-term state of the nation’s finances.
The SFC predicted that there could be “negative average annual budget gap” of £9bn per year over the period 2030‑31 to 2074‑75 as ministers at Westminster seek to curb debt.

It’s hard to understand how minor divisions can come to dominate the process of building a challenge to the rule of the rich when the desperate need for a vehicle to fight poverty and despair is so abundantly clear, writes MATT KERR