18th April 2006
A Question For Secretary Hain
A very intriguing answer here www.tinyurl.com/rkulx from the depths of the Treasury for Alex Salmond. Seems as if Northern Ireland has received some £600 million over the last thirty years from the Treasury in oil revenues over and above the Barnett Formula.
Even the Isle of Man has been raking in millions – which more than pays for the quaintly termed “imperial contribution” they still have to pay for privilege of being British. A question the Secretary of State (for Wales) may want to ask his northern Irish alter ego the next time he is on the plane: if Scotland’s oil wealth is good enough for the Irish and the Manx to tap, where’s our share? £600 million buys a lot of schools and hospitals.
