JORGE da Motta of JTI claims that devolving powers on tobacco duty to Scotland could harm our economy (“Tobacco chief fires up debate over duty”, News, 5 January). But World Bank reports show clearly that tobacco is poor value to any economy, on economic as well as on health grounds, as the diseases smoking causes cut down many in the prime of their working lives.She's writing a response to the article here. But the article doesn't say that JTI says that devolving powers might harm our economy. He warns that the wrong policy choices will bring about more bootlegging – not the tobacco duty, but failures in policy-making, which will lose the Scottish government money. So apparently Sheila claims that JTI fears that tobacco duties will somehow ruin the economy, and contrasts this with the World Bank view that tobacco is poor value to any economy.
Not a lot of contrast there. Perhaps Sheila has been the victim of a bad sub-editor.
I was hoping for some enlightenment on the finances of post-devolutionary Scotland, but I'll have to go elsewhere!
