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Posted on This is My Truth on 7 July


Eights months out from a referendum on further powers Gerry Holtham's latest report is, how shall I put it, unhelpful.

The conclusion by the three man Commission that the Assembly should be accountable for what it spends, just as a Local Authority is, by having to raise its own revenue is intellectually undeniable. But is manna from heaven for the No campaign.

And Holtham's rider that his package of financial reform should be subject to yet another referendum is sure to be seized upon as confirmation that the slope towards independence gets slipplier with every incremental step.

These arguments can be countered, but whereas the first report helped the narrative of the Yes campaign, yesterday's final installment does not.

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