The lie that will not die

Guardian Unlimited Politics | Special Reports | Scottish parliament building

Back in the late 90s when Scottish devolution began to be implemented, there was talk of building a new parliament to house MSPs, as the Royal High School was felt not to be suitable for a variety of reasons, some symbolic (as there was a desire to see a new beginning) and some practical (it was too small for everyone - though there was a perfectly good, indeed rather attractive, Art-Deco office block just yards away that was already used by the Scottish Executive, and the court that currently sat there would need to find a new home as well...).

But what would such a building cost?? Politicians (and, it must be said, civil servants) being ever economical with the truth, replied that a building with the required floorspace would typically cost around £40 million to build. Note that this wasn't the actual cost of the building that they were proposing to build: that hadn't even been designed yet. And this was just the construction cost - it didn't include many professional fees, VAT at 17.5%(And just why is the Scottish Executive paying VAT?? That point has always confused me...), or the costs of buying the land the building might sit on.