Analysis: What does the Spending Review mean for Scotland?

T h e C h a n c e l l o r h a s a n n o u n c e d £ 2 . 4 b i l l i o n o f new funding for Scotland for 2021/22.

D o u b l e t h e f u n d i n g p r o - v i d e d a t t h e l a s t s p e n d i n g round, Rishi Sunak claimed the investment showed “the Treasury is, has been, and will always be the Treasury for the whole of the United Kingdom”.

The message from the UK Government was one of strong support, funding so substantial that Tories were lining up to explain just how brilliant it is.

S cottish S ecretar y Alister Jack remarked: “Never before has the strength of the Union, and the role of the UK Treasury, been more important."

Scottish Tories leader Douglas Ross said Mr Sunak had "gone fur ther than any government in peacetime history to protect jobs and support public services".

T h e g o v e r n m e n t ’s o w n spending review paper, coming in at 120 pages, added: “At t he he a r t of t hi s i s t he g ov - ernment’s mission to level up across the UK, ensuring economic opportunities for ever y o n e a n d u n l e a s h i n g t h e potential of the Union.”

After a premiership that has so often ignored Scotland or actively worked against it, yesterday there was a clear focus to remedy that. The horse has b o l t e d , b u t h e r e i s a va g u e amount of money.

Where is the money going? F i r s t l y , t h e £ 2 . 4 b n g o e s through the Barnett formula, so will be up to Holyrood to spend on devolved areas such as health and social care, education and housing.

T h e r e w a s a l s o £ 2 0 m i l - lion for each devolved nation to suppor t the fisheries sector in 2021/22. This suggests hard times are coming for the industry, with the sum unlikely to address any problems caused by a tumultuous exit from the European Union.

Brexit was not mentioned once during the speech, with the Chancellor ignoring the f i n a n c i a l b l a c k h o l e i n t h e room.

There was also an increase for the Scotland Office, handed a seismic £800,000 more for the year 2021/22. Whether the price of a top-end Porsche is enough to defend unionism in an election year remains to be seen.

S cotland will also receive more than £100bn of capital investment across the UK in 2021/22 focusing on improving connectivity and productivity.