There’s still been no official public announcement of the outcome of the JMC dispute-resolution meeting held a week ago to consider the withholding of consequential payments arising from the 2012 Olympics (discussed HERE; and my earlier post about the substantive issue is HERE). But we do have a sort-of public indication of what happened; while concessions have been made about any increases to the Olympic budget, particularly for legacy issues, the Treasury stands firm on the central issue of consequentials for transport and regeneration aspects of the main budget. As a result, there was no agreement between them and the devolved administrations.
As a result, the three devolved finance ministers have issued a joint statement criticising the decision, and recording their intention to refer it to an exceptional plenary JMC meeting.
The joint statement is available here, the Welsh Assembly Government’s curt press notice about it is here, and the Scottish Government’s is here.
Isn’t this another example of the coalition not understanding the Barnett formula, except in the broadest of outlines. It is time this method of cutting up the cake, (which even the original author says is long past its sell by date), was scrapped. Time for Messrs. Cameron and Osborne to face the wrath of Salmond, if they dare.
Mr. Osborne’s ‘Tough but fair spending cuts’ (his words, not mine), which are supposed to reshape the state over the next four years, don’t extend to a tough but fair policy in dealing with the devolved governments.
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