Budget? It will be hard to budge it
Opposition parties dig their heels in and threaten to thwart SNP spending plans
The Scottish Government is facing a budget crisis after the Greens and Lib Dems ruled out supporting its spending plans.
Finance Secretary Derek Mackay’s draft proposal will go through its first vote this week.
But Greens co-convener Patrick Harvie, the Minister’s most likely ally, yesterday warned his party wouldn’t go along with the budget due to SNP “stubbornness” on council funding. He added: “The Government seem determined to force through a hugely damaging budget for 2019/20, decimating local services around the country. That’s not something we can support.
“As councils prepare to set their budgets for the coming year the threat to jobs , services like education and community facilities such as swimming pools and libraries is very real.
“If the Government continues to refuse to accept our proposals, or even come up with fair alternatives, we cannot vote for this budget when it comes to Parliament on Thursday.”
Mackay’s proposals detail more than £180million in raising standards in schools, including £120 million for head teachers to spend on closing the attainment gap. There is also a public sector pay deal providing a rise of three per cent for those earning up to £36,500. He has promised to increase investment in mental health by £27million, taking overall funding to £1.1billion. But if Mackay was thinking of looking to the Lib Dems for support, he will have to take the party’s ultimate goal of Scottish independence off the table. Leader Willie Rennie said: “If the Finance Secretary’s talks with the Green Party are faltering, he knows exactly what he needs to do to unlock talks.
“The damaged one by independence to public services would be enormous.
“We are not asking the SNP to abandon their belief in independence. We just want the SNP minority Government to cease preparations for the remainder of this Parliament.
“We can see with the chaos of Brexit the economic damage caused by breaking up long-term economic partnerships. Those who say that wouldn’t be repeated with independence are fooling themselves.”
Mackay said his door remains open to opposition parties and added that his proposals offered stability and as much certainty as possible for Scotland in the circumstances.
The plans, he said, provided a real-terms funding increase for public services, including almost £730million for health and care services and more than £180million to raise attainment in schools.
He said: “The Budget also gives a vital boost to our economy through our £5 billion infrastructure investment programme.”