2015年经济学人 苏格兰的民族情怀 烦心乱意

Scottish nationalism

Thistles and thorns

What the Scottish National Party will try to do in Westminster

WITH hardly a glimpse of tartan, Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP),

presented her squad¹ of 56 MPs at the House of Commons on May 11th (although she herself is not one of them).

Their increased numbers—the SNP won all but three Scottish seats—represented a victory beyond most nationalists' dreams.

Yet their modest demeanour suggested that, for now, they have come to London to do business, not to cause chaos².

A decade ago the scale of the SNP's success would have been seen as a mandate³ for independence.

Alex Salmond, Ms Sturgeon's predecessor⁴, drew that conclusion again. But Ms Sturgeon claims separation is not high on her agenda.

She has even played down the idea of a speedy introduction of full fiscal⁵ autonomy, seeking only a promise from Westminster to start handing more powers to Scotland.

Part of the reason for the more cautious tone is that the collapsing⁶ oil price and the decline of offshore⁷ revenues has made independence seem like a dubious⁸ proposition.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), an independent think-tank, calculates that, under full tax autonomy,Scotland would need to find an additional 7.6 billion

(12 billion) to close its deficit⁹ to British levels, a gap it reckons will widen to 9.7 billion, or 4.9% of Scottish GDP, by 2019-20.

To accept tax autonomy without continuing to receive the substantial subsidy¹⁰ Scotland currently gets from the Treasury¹¹ is “tantamount to economic suicide”,

says George Kerevan, an SNP politician.

Another explanation for the caution is that, after last September's independence referendum, in which 55% of Scots voted to remain part of Britain,

David Cameron, the prime minister, promised to give Scotland new fiscal powers.

Over the next five years the Scottish government is due to gain control of earned-income taxes, air-passenger duty and a levy¹² on aggregates¹³ such as sand and gravel¹⁴.

It will also be assigned the revenues of the first ten percentage points of value-added tax and oversee¹⁵ around 2.5 billion, or about 15%, of welfare spending.

The IFS reckons this will make Ms Sturgeon responsible for raising about half of what her government spends.

She and her party nonetheless could, and probably will, give Mr Cameron a headache. Though not rushing now to achieve it in full,

Ms Sturgeon has made clear that she wants even more fiscal control. She would like to oversee most welfare spending,

as well as corporation tax and national-insurance payments.

The SNP hopes to reduce employers' contributions to national insurance in order to compensate¹⁶ for raising the minimum wage.

Ms Sturgeon wants the floor to rise from 6.50 per hour now to 8.70 by 2020. This, she says, would enable her to boost the economy,

reduce the deficit and move towards full tax autonomy more quickly.

The new SNP intake¹⁷ can also be expected to make full use of their privileges as the third-largest party at Westminster.

MPs will pose tricky¹⁸ questions and use committee chairmanships to harry¹⁹ the government, especially over austerity.

Ms Sturgeon argues that such actions would not just be on behalf of Scots but for all Britons.

She sees Labour entering “a period of introspection” and claims the SNP will be “the principal opposition” in Westminster.

This leaves Labour in a bind²⁰ over whether to position itself to the SNP's right or left.

But it also poses a dilemma²¹ for Mr Cameron. He could concede to what the SNP wants,

in order to avert²² further fracturing between Scotland and England—but that would imply the Scots were right to elect them.

Or he could dig in and allow himself to be caricatured as the Scots' enemy. Either way, Ms Sturgeon looks to be sitting pretty.

1 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

2 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

3 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

4 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

5 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

6 collapsing   

压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The rocks were folded by collapsing into the center of the trough. 岩石由于坍陷进入凹槽的中心而发生褶皱。

7 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。

8 dubious   

adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• What he said yesterday was dubious.他昨天说的话很含糊。
• He uses some dubious shifts to get money.他用一些可疑的手段去赚钱。

9 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

10 subsidy   

n.补助金，津贴

参考例句：

• The university will receive a subsidy for research in artificial intelligence.那个大学将得到一笔人工智能研究的补助费。
• The living subsidy for senior expert's family is included in the remuneration.报酬已包含高级专家家人的生活补贴。

11 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

12 levy   

n.征收税或其他款项，征收额

参考例句：

• They levy a tax on him.他们向他征税。
• A direct food levy was imposed by the local government.地方政府征收了食品税。

13 aggregates   

数( aggregate的名词复数 )； 总计； 骨料； 集料（可成混凝土或修路等用的）

参考例句：

• Snowflakes are loose aggregates of ice crystals. 雪花是冰晶的松散凝结。
• Our airplanes based in Europe should be included in the aggregates. 我们驻欧飞机应包括在总数内。

14 gravel   

n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石

参考例句：

• We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
• More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。

15 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

16 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。

17 intake   

n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口

参考例句：

• Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
• There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。

18 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

19 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

20 bind   

vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬

参考例句：

• I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
• He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。

21 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

22 avert   

v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等)

参考例句：

• He managed to avert suspicion.他设法避嫌。
• I would do what I could to avert it.我会尽力去避免发生这种情况。