The claim
“I was looking at some construction employment statistics the other day. Construction employment across the country in the past year is down by 12 per cent. In Scotland, in England, in Wales and Northern Ireland it is down by some 12 per cent – some areas are higher than that, some areas are lower. But in London construction employment is up by 17 per cent in the last year”.
Alex Salmond, SNP leader, 31 March 2010
The background
In a thinly-veiled dig at the benefits London’s economy may be enjoying because of Olympic development ahead of 2012, the SNP leader quoted some construction worker figures at an SNP-Plaid Cmyru press conference. Is he right?
The analysis
The SNP referred FactCheck to the Scottish Government for the source of these figures. The Scottish Government said it used Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures to compile the comparison, which were subsequently brought to Salmon’s attention.
The ONS figures – known as employee jobs – show that construction jobs in London jumped from 119,000 in December 2008, to 140,000 in December last year – indeed, a 17 per cent rise.
In Scotland, the number of construction jobs fell from 140,000 to 123,000 during the same period, a 12 per cent drop.
But construction is just one of 13 different job categories measured in the figures used by Salmond. Other larger employment sectors are also featured in the stats, such as: retail, education, and health.
In fact, the overall figures show that during the same period, December 2008 to 2009, the total number of employee jobs in London fell by exactly the same amount as it did in Scotland: 52,000.
The percentage drop is higher in Scotland because its working population is roughly half the size of London’s, but the disparity in the construction market jobs has been evened out to a degree elsewhere.
The verdict
Salmond is correct, but ignores the fact that the overall job market in Scotland and London has shrunk to a similar degree in the past year, according to the ONS figures.
The claim
“In the meantime the Barnett formula, as it stands, should be fair. That means the treasury should not attempt to bypass it, like is has over projects such as Olympic regeneration”.
Angus Robertson MP, Leader of Scottish National Party in Westminster, 31 March 2010
The analysis
The leader of the Scottish National Party in Westminster speaks out over funding for London 2010, and what he sees as Scotland’s raw deal.
But did the treasury ‘bypass’ the Barnett formula – the controversial method by which funding in England is subsequently used to calculate funding for Scotland – when it came to Olympic regeneration?
The short answer from the treasury was: yes.
This is because the Olympics were defined by the treasury as a UK-wide event, meaning there was no technical need for so-called Barnett consequentials, the payments Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales get when money is spent in England.
The treasury says the bid for the Olympics was very much a British one, it will be a British team after all, and thus is funded as such.
The verdict
Robertson was correct, the treasury says the Barnett formula was not invoked when it came to Olympic spending.
It just comes down to whether voters see the Olympics as a UK, or English, event.
All home nations will be represented by Team GB at 2012.
