Cost of G8

Source: BBC News

The cost of policing the G8 summit was £72m.

The UK Treasury agreed to pay £20m of the cost with the rest being funded by the Scots.

This is not, of course, good enough for the SNP. They think the whole cost should be footed by the UK Treasury, spreading the costs (but not the benefits) of the summit across the whole of the UK. With English taxpayers making over 80% of contributions to the UK Treasury and being the only net contributors, this means the cost will fall almost entirely on the shoulders of the English.

The block grant to Scotland (funded mostly by the English taxpayer) already contains funding for major events so England has already paid most of the cost.

Despite this, SNP spokeswoman Roseanna Cunningham MSP said "Basically Westminster is just going to dump the cost on Scotland - a small country, far away, of which they know little and care less." Is anyone in Scotland actually attached to reality any more?

If I was an SNP person I would be questioning why, in the run-up to the summit, the best estimate for the cost of the Gleneagles Summit was £12.1m when policing alone cost £72m.

Then again, that would mean missing out on an opportunity to snipe at the Scottish Raj, with its Scottish PM, Scottish Chancellor and Scottish-dominated cabinet, for being so anti-Scottish. Even if it is a load of old haggis.