FINANCE Secretary Shona Robison has announced the Scottish Government’s Budget.
She said it would deliver “progress for Scotland” as she announced a range of measures in Holyrood on Tuesday afternoon.
This included funding for Scotland’s NHS, tackling the climate emergency and child poverty and to abolish the two-child cap.
Here’s a look at some of the key points.
Investment in NHS
Robison said the Scottish NHS will receive a record funding settlement of £21 billion in the next financial year.
She told MSPs this was her biggest commitment, saying: “Today’s Budget provides a record £21bn for health and social care.
“An increase of £2bn for frontline NHS boards – a record uplift. That is money that will make it easier for people to access GP appointments, that will improve A&E and ensure more Scots get the care they need in good time.
“There is no public service more important and there is no Budget that has delivered a bigger vote of confidence in the NHS than this Budget.”
Taxes
The Finance Secretary said the tax decisions she has taken delivered £1.7bn more in 2025/26 than if UK policies had been followed.
Income tax rates have been frozen until 2026 and Robison also confirmed that no more bands would be introduced.
As a result, more than half of taxpayers will pay less than they would elsewhere in the UK, Robison said.
Tax proposals will see:
- The basic rate and intermediate rate thresholds will increase by 3.5%, effectively twice the rate of inflation to £15,397 and £27,491 respectively
- The higher, advanced and top rates will be maintained at £43,662, £75,000 and £125,140 respectively
This means that those on lower wages will pay less tax as Robison said that "60% of Scots will be better off because they live in Scotland".
Elsewhere, Robison also introduced a more than £1bn uplift for local authorities, but warned levies should be kept low, after a council tax freeze in the last 12 months.
She said this meant there is "no reason" for big increases in council tax.
Mitigating two-child cap
The Scottish Government also said it would mitigate the impact of the two-child benefit cap, the Finance Secretary has said.
Ministers hit out at the Tory-implemented policy, which Labour previously voted against scrapping.
Robison (above) urged the UK Government to provide the necessary data to allow for the changes to be made.
“Be in no doubt that the cap will be scrapped,” she told MSPs.
ScotWind leasing
Robison also confirmed funding from the ScotWind leasing round won’t be used in this financial year.
She said earlier this year that hundreds of millions from the leasing of the country’s seabeds for offshore wind may have to be used to plug a black hole.
However, she told MSPs today: “Members will be delighted to hear that ScotWind has not been used up in this financial year.
“Instead, I am able to deploy over £300 million of ScotWind revenues in 2025/26 for exactly the kind of long-term investment it should be spent on.”
She also said the Budget will tackle climate change, allocating £25m to support the creation of new jobs in the green energy supply chain.
She also pledged £90m to protect, maintain and increase Scotland’s woodlands and peatlands.
Robison also said the Government would triple its investment in offshore wind to £150m.
Free school meals
Free school meals will be extended to primaries six and seven in Scotland for “low-income families”.
The Scottish Government came under attack after rowing back its 2021 manifesto pledge to provide all primary school pupils free school meals.
But the Finance Secretary announced the extension of the policy to older school pupils, but not on a universal basis, with extra funding for breakfast clubs to be introduced.
Scottish islands
Councils in Orkney and Shetland were given a cash boost to explore the creation of inter-island tunnels.
The £20m boost is to improve inter-island connections "whether that means flights, ferries or tunnels," Robison said.
The Finance Secretary said it would be up to the communities to decide how the money was spent.
