THE SNP Government’s Budget has formally passed its first Holyrood vote.
MSPs voted by 74 to 30, with 21 abstentions, to back the spending plans laid out in the Budget (Scotland) (No. 4) Bill.
The Greens and LibDems had agreed to back the Budget after winning concessions from the Scottish Government last month.
Scottish Labour had made clear their intention to abstain earlier in January, meaning the bill was all but certain to pass regardless.
In the Holyrood chamber, Labour faced criticism from the Tories, the Greens, and the SNP for declining to try and win changes in the SNP Budget plans.
Craig Hoy, the Scottish Conservative finance spokesperson, said Anas Sarwar’s Scottish Labour had handed the SNP the cheapest Budget deal in the history of devolution.
Michael Marra, Scottish Labour’s finance spokesperson, suggested that his party’s contribution had been the “record” funding settlement from the UK Government.
Green MSP Ross Greer responded: “It seems that Labour's argument this afternoon is that Scottish Labour's contribution to the budget is the £5bn pounds of consequentials from the UK Government.
“Now, being generous, that would be an argument for the election of Scottish Labour MPs.
“I hate to break it to our Labour colleagues here, they are not MPs, they are MSPs, members of this parliament who had the opportunity to negotiate to include their priorities in this Budget, and declined to do so.”
“We are supposed to believe that Labour is ready for government, but Labour MSPs won't even talk about governing,” she told Holyrood.
“I do wonder how much of their resistance to take part in this process is a result of an inability to challenge their London bosses – or reconcile their vague calls for a new direction with what their own party has decided to do and say on welfare.”
After the vote, SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson said that, in deciding to abstain, Labour had “sided with the Tories over making progress”.
"It is clear now that the Scottish Parliament is divided into parties who want to get things done and make progress for Scotland – and parties who don't,” Gibson said.
"The Labour Party's decision to sit on the political side lines with the Tories instead of standing with our NHS will haunt Anas Sarwar for a long time to come – and he now needs to justify why his party didn't support £21bn of investment in the NHS this year.”
The SNP said the Budget would:
- Provide record funding for Scotland’s NHS after a £2bn increase
- Restore a universal winter heating payment to every pensioner household from 2026
- Develop systems to scrap the cruel two child cap by 2026
- Allocate a record £15bn for local government
- Provide £768 million for affordable homes
Opening the debate, Finance Secretary Shona Robison had said: “Parliament can see that the offer to Scotland has been enhanced by the separate agreements reached with the Scottish Liberal Democrats and Scottish Greens, and the further action we will take in neonates affected by drugs investment, free school meals, nature restoration, along with the introduction of a bus fare cap pilot, and targeted support for hospices and colleges.
“This collaborative approach between parties demonstrates how the Scottish Parliament was designed to work – effectively engaging and negotiating to agree solutions for the benefit of Scotland.
“We will now move ahead with delivery, providing improvements to the services in Scotland – which is what the people of Scotland want.”
Only the Tories opposed the Budget Bill in the vote on Tuesday.
Hoy accused the LibDems of having sold out by backing plans which include spending on independence, through the constitution unit.
Scottish LibDem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said that there was no independence spending in the Budget, which he said was a win for his party.
