THE SNP have branded Alex Cole-Hamilton “anti-democratic” for stating his party will vote down the upcoming Budget if it includes spending on independence.
We told how the LibDem leader said his party will vote against the Budget if it includes even a “penny” promoting Scottish independence.
Speaking on the BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show, Cole-Hamilton (below), said: “I don’t see a circumstance where any Liberal Democrat could vote for a Budget that is clearly spending money on the constitution.
“I think that would be a massive misuse of public funds no matter how small. We need every penny available spent on our schools, on our GP surgeries, on the mental health crisis.”
He added: "The SNP will have to go a long way to persuade us, that whilst they might delete things like any independence spending from their budget that they won’t just go back to their old ways of spending any political oxygen on the constitution.”
The SNP’s deputy leader, Keith Brown MSP, told The National that Cole-Hamilton's comments were “anti-democratic”.
“People in Scotland voted for a majority pro-independence Parliament in 2021, and that vote must be respected by all parties,” Brown (below) said.
“For Alex Cole-Hamilton to state that any spending on independence would be a misuse of public funds, when the public voted for a pro-independence Parliament in 2021, is anti-democratic.”
He continued: “Regardless of what the other parties choose to do, the SNP will always make the case for Scotland to become an independent country.”
It comes as the SNP is in discussions with other parties in an attempt to gain support for the Budget, which will be delivered in Holyrood on December 3.
Because the SNP is now a minority government following the end of the Bute House Agreement, the Scottish Government needs the support of at least one opposition party in order to successfully pass the Budget.
While the LibDems have said they will not support a Budget that includes spending on independence, the Scottish Greens have said they will only support it if there are no cuts to independence spending.
The Scottish Government has previously said they are engaging in negotiations with all parties.
