Scotland and the United Kingdom

This study explores the economic case for Scotland's continued union with the UK. The growth of political support for the Scottish National Party during the past twenty years has generated substantial debate in Scotland about the relative virtues of independence or continued union with the United Kingdom. The exploitation of 'Scotland's oil' from the 1970s provided an economic basis for the case for independence. This book explores the case for union, devolution or independence on economic grounds. Professor Lee surveys the economic transition of the Scottish economy during the twentieth century in which much established heavy industry declined, leaving a legacy of unemployment and poverty for which new industries were unable fully to compensate. These severe economic problems - especially concentrated in central Scotland - focused attention on the role of the state in running the economy, particularly as such intervention greatly increased in the twentieth century. Government intervention has been influential through substantial increases in both taxation and public expenditure, as well as through regional and industrial policy.