The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Row erupts over Scotland’s ‘£2billion windfall’
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the Budget contained “more smoke and mirrors than substance” as she dismissed claims Holyrood was poised for a £2billion windfall.
The SNP leader hit out as a fresh war of words erupted over the impact of the UK Government’s spending plans on Scotland.
Chancellor Philip Hammond said in his Commons speech yesterday that the Autumn Budget would mean “£2billion more for the Scottish Government”. But Ms Sturgeon immediately took to social media to question the figure, saying there was “much less to it than meets the eye”, including that it was spread over four years.
Meanwhile, Scottish Finance Secretary Derek Mackay said more than half of the money was in loans which had to be repaid to the UK Treasury and that Scotland was still facing a real-terms cut in spending.
He added: “Scotland’s resource block grant for day to day spending will fall by over £200million in real terms next year and while money for the NHS in England should see a proportionate share come to Scotland, cuts in other UK departments mean that instead of receiving over £30million this year the Scottish Government will receive only £8million - a fraction of that spending.
“Austerity has not ended and over 10 years of this UK Government, between 2010-11 and 2019-20, we will continue to see Scotland’s discretionary budget fall in real terms by £2.6billion, that’s 8.1%.”
UK Government figures show a total of £2.03billion extra in resource and capital funding over the next four years, including £223million for the rest of this year, £543million next year, £676million in 2019/20 and £587million in 2020/21, although it includes cash earmarked for the Edinburgh City Deal and other projects.
Conservative MSP Adam Tomkins said it was “a very odd version of ‘austerity’ that sees the Scottish Government’s budget going up by £2billion, which is what happened today”.
Meanwhile, Scottish Secretary David Mundell said: “From support for city deals and some of our finest charities to landmark tax measures on oil and gas and whisky, this Budget backs Scotland’s great industries.”