Humza Yousaf boasted that the SNP had boosted public spending, but health and education outcomes in Scotland remain poor
ANDREW MILLIGAN/PA
Humza Yousaf’s big announcement in his first conference speech as leader of the Scottish National Party — that Scotland will issue bonds for the first time — was not quite the bombshell he made it out to be. It’s hardly a rebellious move: George Osborne gave Scotland the power to do it a decade ago, within strict limits set by Westminster, on the understanding that the UK government will not underwrite the borrowing. The Scottish government has chosen not to exercise this freedom until now because it will have to pay higher interest rates than the UK does, and the movement in those rates may be embarrassing: because financial markets dislike instability, the likelier independence is, the higher rates will go.
Moreover, this move will
