Scotland’s devolved government must wait until February to find out if it has enough votes to pass the draft budget it presented at Holyrood on Wednesday.
The minority Scottish National Party (SNP) administration announced measures including a spending boost for health and promised an end in Scotland to the two-child benefits cap put in place by the UK government in Westminster.
Scotland’s finance secretary Shona Robison delivered her budget to the Scottish parliament against the backdrop of heavy fiscal demands due to creaking public services. Her task was eased, however, by a boost of £3.4 billion to the annual block grant from Westminster to £47.7 billion, which was announced at the end of October by the UK chancellor of the exchequer Labour’s Rachel Reeves.
The draft budget will now be scrutinised by the parliament over winter, before being put to a vote in early spring. The SNP will need opposition support to pass the budget which appeared to be laced with political landmines for Labour should it choose to vote it down.
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Chief among them was a decision by the SNP to fund top-up winter fuel payments for Scottish pensioners – the Labour government in Westminster this year axed universal payments across the UK for all but the lowest-income pensioners.
Similarly Ms Reeves has so far resisted pressure from within her own party to scrap the two-child benefit across the UK. By promising to continue funding it in Scotland Ms Robison has effectively laid a political trap for Scottish Labour should it oppose a budget ending the “pernicious” cap.
“Be in no doubt, the cap will be scrapped,” she said, as she urged the government in Westminster to co-operate with the Scottish government by sharing data to allow it implement its plan.
As well as its fiscal importance the budget is also of huge political significance for the SNP because it is for the final full financial year – beginning April 6th, 2025 – before the Holyrood elections due in May 2026. After being mauled in the UK election in July when it lost 80 per cent of its Westminster seats, the SNP is fighting to retain power in Edinburgh, where it has been in government for 17 years.
Ms Robison’s draft budget included measures to expand a free school meals scheme, an extra £2 billion to fund NHS boards, and new investment of £768 million in affordable homes. She also announced adjustments to Scotland’s income tax bands to tax more of people’s wages at lower rates.
Scottish Labour’s finance spokesman Michael Marra said Scotland was “going in the wrong direction” under the SNP, while the Scottish Conservatives’ Craig Hoy said the draft budget was a “halfhearted attempt [by the SNP] to fix the problems they have created”.
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