Where would Scotland be without the English? Step 4

1. [Match]

Can you match the halves to create some of the key statements?

(“We cannot afford to keep Scotland in the manner to which it has become accustomed.”
This language is deliberately mock-aristocratic, suggesting someone with pretensions above their station. Without this, the phrase “in the manner to which it has become accustomed” would be something like: – We cannot afford to keep Scotland’s standard of living as high as it would like but can’t pay for.
The phrase suggests Scotland has not been realistic about money, and needs to adapt its expectations to what it can afford, without depending on England to pay for what Scotland wants but cannot afford.
It is important to realise that the gravy train refers to income or advantages that have not been earned. Someone else has paid for the luxury of this. Because of the word ‘train’ in the idiom the Englishwoman has used the verb ‘chug’, a verb used of a train moving slowly while emitting a series of muffled explosive sounds typical of an engine.
The Barnett Formula is a convention devised by the Lord Barnett under a Labour government, and used by the English treasury since 1978. The formula allocates funding per person in the UK on the basis of proportions of the population. It is unjust, as it does not take into account differences in England between regions, and although Wales has greater needs than Scotland in terms of poverty and unemployment, infrastructure etc, it receives less than Scotland per person. A typical breakdown of this annual funding per person is:
England £7,121 ; Scotland £8,623; Wales £8,139; Northern Ireland £9,385
Lord Barnett himself viewed the formula that he devised as unfair. In The Scotsman in January 2004 he wrote “It was never meant to last this long, but it has gone on and on and it has become increasingly unfair to the regions of England. I didn’t create this formula to give Scotland an advantage over the rest of the country when it comes to public funding.”
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Answers for Quiz [1].

• 1. from England. (correct)
• 2. to English taxpayers’ cash. (correct)
• 3. in the manner to which it has become accustomed.
  (correct)
• 4. halted. (correct)
• 5. chugged over the border in the past two decades.
  (correct)
• 6. iniquitous scheme.
  (correct)
• 7. English people the benefits it gives the Scots.
  (correct)
• 8. by the English Parliament.
  (correct)
• 9. by English taxpayers. (correct)
• 10. huge and generous amounts of money from Westminster.
  (correct)
• 11. thinking that the English
  deprive them of what they are entitled to.
  (correct)
• 12. no good reason. They are no poorer than we are.
  (correct)
• 13. on the English.
  (correct)
• 14. must stop.
  (correct)
• 15. within its means. (correct)