THE UK Government’s upcoming Budget could cost NHS Scotland “2000 nurses”, the Scottish Government has warned.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to announce plans to hike employer National Insurance contributions in Wednesday’s Budget, in a move which she said would raise an extra £20 billion.
But Scottish Government Finance Secretary Shona Robison has called on Labour to fully offset the extra cost to public sector employers in Scotland, where the NHS could be left with an extra £140 million annual bill.
Speaking to the Sunday Mail, Robison (below) said: “After 14 years of austerity, we want to see a UK Budget that looks to the future and invests for growth and prosperity. One change reported in the media is a possible increase in employers’ NI contributions.
“While the Chancellor seems to favour this move to help put public finances on a sustainable footing, there is a real risk that it could have the opposite effect in Scotland.
“The NHS in Scotland alone would face an estimated additional cost of £140m from a two percentage point increase in the employer contribution rate. That would be equivalent to well over 2000 qualified nurses.
“Unless the cost of increased NI contributions for public sector workers is fully funded – to cover every extra penny of tax for every public sector employee – the cash for this would have to come from existing budgets.
“This would put frontline services at risk, both those delivered by the Scottish Government and those delivered by our partners in the third sector.”
We previously told how the SNP’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn (below), urged Keir Starmer to give a “cast-iron guarantee” that the National Insurance hike will not hit Scottish public services or affect the Scottish Government’s Budget.
Flynn accused Labour of “breaking yet another election pledge”, urging the party to “put the austerity axe down”.
The Labour Party pledged during the General Election campaign that it would not raise National Insurance.
Starmer has since denied misleading the public during the election over tax plans for the Budget, claiming that the pledge related specifically to “working people”.
Reeves is set to deliver the Budget on Wednesday. The Scottish Budget is expected in December.
