29th January 2013, 10:00 AM
Quote:...but at the moment the National Trust seems perfectly capable of operating in England and Wales without any suggestion it is compromised by devolution and I am guessing that National Trust Scotland holds similar principles to its sister organisation south of the border without any conflict over central or devolved funding.
Isn't the National Trust for Scotland rather chaotically run and so close to being broke that it was talking about floggin off its properties last year? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-hi...s-15673114
The thing about the Trust is that the general public already assumes that it is an arm of the state, but in fact it is unaccountable to anyone except its trustees and the charity comission. Also they have vast incomes from 3.5 million members, legacies and estates. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Statutory organisations have to produce advice on behalf of government, which means being ultimately accountable to ministers, rather than anonymous trustees.