Only six months ago it was predicted that the Scottish economy would decline by 3.1% this year although today the Ernst & Young Scottish ITEM club have released a new forecast suggesting that the Scottish economy will fall by 4.9% this year and grow by just 0.7% next year. This compares to a fall of 4.6% in the overall UK economy and forecast growth of 1.1% next year in the UK. While these figures are not a million miles away from each other, it is the recent signs of weakness in the Scottish economy which is causing great concern.

This comes at a time when the Scottish National Party (the majority party in the Scottish Parliament) is looking to push through an independence vote for Scotland. Those opposed to the break-up of the Union will obviously use the economic situation to their advantage as they will paint Scotland has an economy which literally depends on the economy of England. While this is a matter of personal opinion, one thing is for sure, during the ongoing economic downturn there have been numerous requests made to the UK government for further funding and further assistance.

The subject of independence in Scotland is one which has attracted many strong opinions and while the opinion polls suggest there is no majority support this can change very quickly as we have seen in the past.

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