THE VERDICT

For Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard, it was a “failure”, for Tory finance spokesman Murdo Fraser it showed the SNP “can’t be trusted to keep their promises”, while Willie Rennie, of the Liberal Democrats, lamented a “missed opportunity” to invest in education. Writing for The Scotsman, three leading figures of the main opposition parties made clear their disappointment with Finance Secretary Derek Mackay’s Scottish Budget.

In his article, Mr Leonard said: “Where the SNP government should have chosen to invest, it has chosen to cut. What the SNP government should have