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Daily Record

Politics

Chris McCall & Peter Davidson

SNP government slashes £500m from Holyrood budget - here's where cuts will be made

Holyrood John Swinney SNP Liz Truss Inflation Nicola Sturgeon Scottish Government

Around £500 million will be slashed from the Scottish Government budget, John Swinney has today announced.

The SNP finance secretary warned MSPs "this is just the beginning of hard choices" that would have to be made if inflation continues to soar.

Swinney said it would cost Holyrood £700 million to settle larger-than-expected pay settlements with public sector workers after the country was rocked by a series of railway and refuse collection strikes.

The Deputy First Minister also revealed that resettling Ukrainian refugees had cost the Scottish Government £300 million - but stressed this was a price worth paying to help those fleeing war.

Soaring inflation also means the Holyrood budget is now worth £1.7 billion less in real terms than it was last December.

Swinney told MSPs in the chamber: "Difficult choices must be made. There is no unallocated cash. There is no reserve that has not been utilised.

"Every penny more on one policy is a penny less on another policy.

"I have therefore written to the Finance Committee setting out around £500 million in reductions in planned spending and forecasting that we have made in recent weeks."

Swinney revealed that £53 million would be chopped from employability schemes due to historic labour shortages. The education and skills department will also lose £42 million, while £20 million will be saved by a recruitment freeze.

Swinney continued: "Our budget was based on a UK Spending Review that simply did not foresee the levels of inflation that are now a reality.

"That alone would require the budget to be revisited. But in times of crisis the job of the finance secretary is not simply to balance the books. It is to find the money to help families, to back business and to fund the priority projects that improve lives for the long term."

He added: "This is the harsh reality of a fixed budget and limited powers. The Scottish Government simply does not have access to many of the levers which would provide the greatest support in this crisis."

Labour’s Daniel Johnson called for “greater clarity, honesty and transparency” over the government’s choices.

He asked: "Can he set out what plans he’s asked civil servants to examine, and when he will confirm both when they will be put in place and the timelines for implementing them?”

The Deputy First Minister replied: “The budget process will go through the normal process of parliamentary scrutiny, and the ultimate budget revisions will go to the Finance Committee in due course."