SCOTLAND’S economy is always a talking point leapt on by Unionists to argue against independence, but who are the main talking heads in the debate?
From GERS to GDP, there are always voices clamouring to be heard saying the statistics prove Scotland is better off part of the UK, or that Scotland wouldn’t be able to go it alone.
So who are these economists, what is their background and what do they have in common?
The National have pulled together all you need to know below.
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Kevin Hague
Hague (pictured) is chair of pro-Union think tank These Islands, but also serves on the advisory council for Scottish Business UK (SBUK), which describes itself as a lobby group which wants to see “Scotland thrive economically as part of the United Kingdom”.
He writes a blog, Chokkablog, and is frequently quoted in the Scottish Unionist media talking about economics and politics.
In July 2020, he was left red-faced after the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) backed Finance Secretary Kate Forbes when she said Scotland would only receive £21 million in Barnett consequentials that year. Hague wrote a blog post “dissecting” the claim which he called “misleading and inaccurate”.
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Frances Cairncross
A journalist, economist and academic, Cairncross is currently chair of the Court of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, having taken up the role in 2015. She studied modern history at Oxford University and then Economics at Brown University in the US.
In her journalism career Cairncross racked up bylines at publications including the Financia Times, the Banker, the Observer, the Guardian and the Economist.
She served on the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), established by former FM Alex Salmond in 2007, until she left in 2011 during a shake-up of the organisation. Cairncross is also a council member for the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
Professor Ronald MacDonald OBE
Currently Professor of Macroeconomics and International Finance at University of Glasgow, MacDonald (above) hit the headlines in March 2020 when he joined the SBUK advisory panel.
He has acted as an adviser and consultant to a variety of public and private agencies, as well as governments, including the European Commission, the World Bank, the IMF and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
He previously held the Adam Smith Chair of Political Economy at the University of Glasgow from 2006 to 2015. MacDonald is also on the advisory board of These Islands.
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Sam Taylor
Chief Executive of These Islands, Taylor has a degree in mathematics and has 17 years of background in fund management.
Taylor joined These Islands prior to its launch. He penned an article in August 2020 for The Critic titled “The myth of Scotland’s Covid superiority” which claimed Scottish Government advisers were using misleading data.
He is an avid Twitter user who frequently tweets about economics and Scottish Independence from a pro-Union perspective.
Professor Jim Gallagher
Gallagher (above) is a contributor to both These Islands and SBUK. A company director in the life insurance and pensions sector, he is also chairman of Our Scottish Future, a think tank set up by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown as part of a masterplan to save the Union.
However, within months of it being set up it was already mired in controversy, after Jason Leitch debunked a critical report by the group which claimed only around one-third of Scotland’s Covid cases were picked up by tests.
Gallagher previously worked in Brown’s No 10 team, and advised the Better Together campaign during the 2014 independence referendum. He is an honorary professor at the Universities of Glasgow and St Andrews.
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John Ferry
Ferry is a contributing editor for These Islands and is a former financial journalist turned media relations adviser. He unsuccessfully stood twice for election for the LibDems as the candidate for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweedale in the 2017 and 2019 general elections.
He is a frequent contributor to The Spectator, with a recent article claiming “The SNP-Green alliance is a victory for the cranks”, and frequently pens articles critical of Nicola Sturgeon, a second referendum and the economic prospects of independence.
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