Austerity and Brexit were influences

THE Scottish Budget is about stimulus and stability.

It delivers for today, invests in tomorrow and does so with fairness and equality and has inclusiveness at its heart.

Set against a backdrop of continued UK austerity and further Brexit uncertainty, it includes a significant cash injection for Scotland’s health and care services, alongside funding to help prepare our economy for Brexit.

As a result of our income tax decisions, we have been able to invest in essential public services, particularly the NHS, while ensuring 55 per cent of income taxpayers in Scotland pay less tax than those earning the same income in the rest of the UK.

Taken together with the personal allowance, 99 per cent of taxpayers will pay less income tax next year on the same income.

These decisions will deliver an additional investment of £730million for health and care services to mitigate the shortfall in NHS funding promised by the UK Government.

The budget will invest £180million to help raise attainment in our schools. It will help prepare our economy for Brexit with more than £5billion of capital investment to grow and modernise Scotland’s infrastructure – including a new £50million Town Centre Fund to support the future of our high streets.

It delivers real-terms increases in funding for local government, education, health and the police to support the transformation of our public services.

These decisions will help us meet new challenges, while investment in skills, social security and training will help ensure we deliver opportunity for all.

We will continue to deliver on our commitments to end homelessness and tackle child poverty, and protect investment in culture.

This budget delivers the public services, social contract and economic investment people expect while mitigating, where we can, from the UK Government’s policies of austerity and Brexit that are causing so much harm.