John Swinney has blamed "stupid economic decisions" made by the UK Government for fuelling inflation that is leaving all workers poorer. The Deputy First Minister today called for Westminster to increase the Scottish Government's budget so it could better support the NHS this winter as nurses plan unprecedented strike action.
Standing in for Nicola Sturgeon at today's First Minister's Questions, Swinney faced a barrage of questions from Labour and the Conservatives over what his government was doing to avoid a walk-out from nursing staff.
Members of the Royal College of Nursing voted for a strike yesterday in a long-running row over pay and conditions. The Educational Institute of Scotland - the country's largest teaching union - is expected to announce their own round of strikes later today.
Douglas Ross, the Scots Tory leader, told MSPs that "the man responsible" for the crisis facing the NHS was SNP health secretary Humza Yousaf. He added: "Humza Yousaf has failed. Just how much worse does it have to get for patients and staff in Scotland before he takes responsibility?"
Swinney fired back: "Yes, there are challenges in the National Health Service but there is a record pay deal on offer from the Scottish Government."
He added: "The United Kingdom Government is not recognising the public spending pressures that exist because of inflation that they have fuelled by their stupid economic decisions.
"As a consequence public budgets are under enormous pressure. So if Douglas Ross wants to make himself useful he can ask the United Kingdom Government to increase the budget for the Scottish Government so we can support the health service to a greater extent and start addressing the issues facing members of the public."
Yousaf yesterday warned health unions the Scottish Government "has no more money" and urged the UK Government to help resolve the nursing dispute as it was "essentially a UK-wide strike".
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