The week in numbers

68

The £55bn Scottish Budget has been passed by 68 votes to 55, with one abstention. Measures include tax rises for high earners and funding for local authorities which implement a council tax freeze. Notably, there is £87 million in public-sector support for offshore wind.

£35

The story of a Willy Wonka experience gone wrong at a venue in Glasgow has gone global. The Willy Wonka Chocolate Experience was £35 a ticket but organisers pulled the plug halfway through the first day after being met with a furious reaction from disappointed customers.

£200m

Former US president Donald Trump, his companies and some executives have been found to have fraudulently inflated the valuations of non-existent properties at his Aberdeen golf club by up to £200 million. The Aberdeen club’s operating company has run at a deficit since it opened in 2012.

1 2 10%

MSP Fergus Ewing has branded his own party “authoritarian” after losing an appeal against his suspension.

Last year, Ewing was handed a one-week suspension from the SNP group after voting against the Scottish Government in a no-confidence motion directed at Scottish Greens minister Lorna Slater.

A Scottish restaurant chain has announced the closure of two sites, including the first one it ever opened. Maki & Ramen, which launched in Edinburgh in 2015, said both its West Richmond Street and Nicolson Street would be closing down.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has hinted at a cut to National Insurance in next week’s spring Budget – which he said would be a “Union tax cut”. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in his autumn statement last year that the levy would drop from 12% to 10% in January.

1

The family of a man fatally shot in Perthshire did not learn how he died until one week after the incident, it has emerged. Brian Low, 65, was shot in the Pitilie area on the outskirts of Aberfeldy around 8.30am on February 17 while walking his dog.

£3.5bn

The navy may be forced to mothball or sell off a £3.5 billion aircraft carrier amid funding issues, senior figures have suggested. It is feared the HMS Prince of Wales could be sold for a knockdown price as soon as 2028 in what has been branded a

“HS2 moment”.