Scotland cuts its deficit, but is still outspending the UK

Latest data shows gap between income and spending is four times as much as UK as a whole

Scotland ran a narrower deficit last year as a stronger performance from the oil industry boosted revenues, but the gap between government spending and income was nearly four times higher than the UK as a whole.

The latest Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (Gers) data for Scotland shows that for 2017-18 overall state spending hit 73.4bn compared to tax income of just under 60bn, including oil revenues. That left a deficit for the year of 13.4bn, compared with 13.5bn the year before. Scotland's deficit was equivalent to 7.9% of GDP, while for the UK as a whole it was 1.9%.

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