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Thatcherite officials tried to snip £500m off Scottish budget
Margaret Thatcher considered slashing Scotland's budget by £500 million in 1984

Margaret Thatcher considered slashing Scotland's budget by £500 million in 1984, newly released Cabinet papers have revealed.

And the Tory government under her leadership actively manoeuvred to conceal the real level of cuts it imposed on the Scottish block grant, according to letters now made public under the 30-year rule.

Thatcher's chief policy adviser John Redwood argued in January 1984 that Scotland had an "over-provision" of £900m in its then annual block grant of £6 billion.

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