Capital City con-trick

I see its been 'unofficially' confirmed today - Evening News has the story here - that Edinburgh is to get some £3.5million per year as a 'Capital City Supplement' ...

... now, I don't blame the Nats for trying to portray this as a stunning success:

"An aide to Mr Swinney said: "For the first time, a Scottish budget is making provision for a capital city supplement."

i.e. this is the first time specific funding for the Capital is being provided ... problem is, its a lie.

Not only is it a lie, its also a lot less money than was provided under the previous Scottish Executive from 2004-2007 ... that funding was called the 'Cities Growth Fund', it no longer exists, and it gave Edinburgh £24.2million over three years. Just have a browse through some of these links:

• News Release announcing the fund
• the original full consultation paper
• the specific chapter on Edinburgh

Now, I'm not one to say no to £3.5million per year - I was entirely supportive of the current Lib/Nat Council Administration's efforts to extract a 'Capital City Supplement' from the SNP Scottish Government - problem is, this is an overall reduction in funding from previous Capital City programmes (such as the 'Cities Growth Fund').

It is another Scottish Government con-trick ... I can only hope, probably in vain, that senior Lib-Dems in Edinburgh's local Administration will have the political gumption to say so??