Scottish values

So the SNP have set up a team of experts to look at alternatives to the benefit cuts being brought in by the Westminster Government. Nicola Sturgeon, in an interview in the Sunday Herald, makes it clear that the Coalition Government are being unfair and are out of step with "Scottish values" when it comes to welfare. They may well be but they are also trying to cut the deficit racked up by Labour, some of which Scotland will inherit if we become independent. The experts are expected, among other things, to "provide assurance" on the Scottish Government's cost estimates for its welfare plans. Sounds like they have already been told what the answer should be. Will any of them dare to stick their head above the parapet if the SNP's sums don't add up? Calton is sure that most Scots would like things like free personal care for the elderly and free prescriptions to continue but we have to be able to pay for them. Calton wonders if, in her eagerness to distance her party from Westminster, Nicola has forgotten that being careful with the pennies is also a good old "Scottish value".