The Local Government Association’s (LGA) call for the funding discrepancy between Scotland and England to be tackled has been backed by a new survey.
By a margin of four to one, voters in England believe that levels of public spending in Scotland should be reduced to the UK average in the case of a referendum no vote, according to the Future of England Survey 2014.
Researchers at Cardiff and Edinburgh universities found 56% of respondents backed a cut in public spending north of the border compared to 12% who disagreed.
LGA chair David Sparks warned last month that the ‘huge funding discrepancy’ between Scotland and England was a ‘timebomb’ and was already creating festering resentment.
But the three main pro-union political parties remain committed to continue funding in Scotland via the Barnett formula.
Professor Richard Wyn Jones, of Cardiff University, said: ‘Scotland has been promised that it can maintain its current advantageous position in terms of per capita public spending but English voters clearly do not support this.’
