‘Significant investment’ to tackle climate change

Forbes steps in at the last minute with budget full of ‘wellbeing’ and ‘fairness’

Public Finance Minister Kate Forbes promised “significant” extra cash to tackle climate change as she announced Holyrood’s draft budget for the coming year.

She stepped in at the last minute after the sudden resignation of Derek Mackay, who quit as finance secretary after it emerged he had sent hundreds of messages to a teenage boy.

Ms Forbes – the first woman to deliver a budget at Holyrood – hailed the package of tax and spending measures as having “well-being and fairness at its heart”.

She said it confirmed “significant investment in our response to the global climate emergency” as well as providing £15 billion for health and care services.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon – who tweeted her praise for Ms Forbes – said the Scottish Government was “investing strongly in the economy, public services and tackling the climate crisis”.

But the Greens criticised SNP ministers for failing to move away from supporting “damaging, traffic-inducing transport projects”.

Environmental campaigners at Friends of the Earth Scotland were also critical, with air pollution campaigner Gavin Thomson saying: “A climate emergency calls for an emergency response and a serious funding boost, not more timid tinkering at the edges.

“The Scottish Government promised a budget that would deal with the climate crisis but have failed to put their money where their mouth is.”

Meanwhile, the Tories claimed the additional cash the Scottish Government was spending came from a “Boris bonus”.

Conservatives finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said: “The backdrop to this budget is the substantial increase to the block grant thanks to increased spending at Westminster.

“The Scottish Government is benefiting from a ‘Boris bonus’, worth almost £1.1bn in real terms.

“What is essential is that this money is not squandered but is used to the benefit of the Scottish people.”

The budget contained an extra £42m for Police Scotland, with Ms Forbes saying this meant the force should not have to cut officer numbers.

With Scotland having recorded its highest number of drugs deaths in 2018 at 1,187, she announced a rise of almost 60% in funding to tackle the harm caused by drugs and alcohol.

Ms Forbes pledged £1.8bn of capital spending would go on specific projects aimed at cutting emissions.

To encourage more Scots to use public transport, she said funding for rail and bus services would rise by £286m to £1.55bn in 2020-21.

In addition, more than £85m will be spent promoting active travel – such as walking and cycling – while a loan fund that helps people make the switch from petrol and diesel to low-emission vehicles is being upped to £35m, and spending on forestries rises to more than £64m.

The Scottish Government also pledged £2bn of “transformational infrastructure investment” in measures aimed at tackling climate change in the next parliamentary term.

Among other measures, ministers will provide £21m to fund the new Scottish Child Payment – a £10 a week grant aimed at helping poorer families, which is being brought in later this year.

Overall, Ms Forbes said they would spend no less that £1.4bn next year in helping low-income households.

She confirmed there would be no increase in the rates of income tax Scots pay next year.

Some 56% of Scottish taxpayers will pay less than they would if they lived elsewhere in the UK, Ms Forbes said.

Labour MSP Rhoda Grant dubbed the budget “disappointing”, adding: “Despite additional powers and financial levers and powers that have come to the Scottish Parliament over the last decade, the SNP government have failed to maximise their use.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said councils had been allocated “half of what they need”, warning services could be affected.

With the SNP forming a minority administration, the Scottish Government will need to win the support of at least one of its political rivals for the budget to pass when it returns to Holyrood next month.

Ms Forbes insisted “every penny” available to ministers was accounted for.

She also made clear if the UK has a no-deal Brexit, the Scottish Government “may be forced to reconsider spending plans across all portfolios”.

The Scottish Government took the unprecedented step of publishing its budget ahead of the UK one after this was delayed until March.