TELEGRAPH Money – the right-wing newspaper’s financial advice section – says its aim is to “inform with the best money advice and fight for readers' rights”.
Their latest advice? Move to Scotland.
It comes just one month after a columnist said England should “cut Scotland loose”. And this time it’s a staff journalist rather than a professional opiner.
Senior money writer Josh Kirby – in an article headlined “Why thousands are fleeing to Scotland – and why you should too” – makes quite the opposite argument to his columnist colleague.
While financial journalist and thriller writer Matthew Lynn appeared to take issue with the very existence of a country which seeks to tax the wealthy and provide decent public services, Kirby instead remarked at how Scots “certainly get a lot of free stuff”.
“Scottish people benefit from lower council tax, free prescriptions, free eye tests, free university tuition and free personal care,” the journalist writes.
READ MORE: English residents moving to Scotland at near record levels, new data shows
“Public spending per capita in Scotland in 2022-23 was £14,456, 15 per cent higher than the UK average, and equal to £2229 more than in England.”
Now, he didn’t make Scotland out to be a completely sparkling utopia.
Kirby said: “The flipside is that Scottish people have to pay considerably more tax. Anyone earning more than £25,688 in Scotland pays higher rates of income tax than the rest of the UK; the effects of this are felt most acutely by high earners.”
But he did note the lower house prices in Scotland and that “the rest of the country is beginning to catch on” – noting how people are quitting England and the rest of the UK to move to Scotland at near record levels.
In Scotland, net internal migration from the rest of the UK rose by 11% to 13,900 in the year to June 2023 – a 21-year high and 39% higher than before the pandemic.
The same Telegraph columnist, Lynn, also moaned recently about Britain supposedly becoming the “welfare state for the world”.
I wonder if he’d apply the same thinking to the masses fleeing England for Scotland.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel