Meeting of the Parliament 09 October 2024
Presiding Officer, given some of the cabinet secretary’s comments, you can understand why I am sceptical as to whether a shopping list of additional levies will be the silver bullet for the budget.
The Greens are right to point to the unholy mess that the SNP has made of Scotland’s finances: £5 billion lost to waste; the failure to grow our economy, leaving us £8.5 billion poorer; and nearly half a billion pounds of Scotland’s money squandered on a black hole, rather than invested in our nation’s future. There have been three consecutive years of emergency budget statements that announce swingeing in-year cuts across the board, but it does not have to be that way.
After 17 years, we might think that the SNP would have got to grips with the process, but, if anything, it is getting worse. Part of the problem is how opaque the budget is. A responsible Government would surely comply with its agreement with the Scottish Fiscal Commission to supply the data that is needed for forecasts, but, for two consecutive years, the SNP has failed to provide to the Scottish Fiscal Commission such fundamental information as a public sector pay policy. At yesterday’s Finance and Public Administration Committee meeting, the cabinet secretary still refused to say whether she would supply a pay policy for this year’s budget, despite the fact that pay accounts for more than half the total budget. Surely that is something that ought to be budgeted for. The levels of incompetence are truly shocking.
Of course, it was only yesterday that the cabinet secretary confirmed the assumptions that she had made on pay in last year’s budget—a £375 million understating of the cost. It is no wonder that we ended up with £1 billion of emergency crisis cuts in a year, and no wonder that the likes of the Fraser of Allander Institute, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and Audit Scotland have criticised the Scottish Government for its lack of transparency around budgets.
This incompetent Government has well and truly lost its way. Worse still, it has lost control of the public finances, meaning that ordinary Scots will pay the price as they pay more and get less.
I move amendment S6M-14825.1, to leave out from “notes” to end and insert:
“understands that tackling the social, economic and environmental challenges that Scotland faces and delivering sustainable funding for public services is only possible through delivering sustainable economic growth and an economy that works for everyone in Scotland; recognises the importance of the UK Government’s commitment to fix the foundations of the economy, and understands that Scotland will benefit from this approach; understands that the Scottish Government’s wasteful spending and failure to plan ahead have led to significant pressures on the Scottish Budget, including £5 billion lost to waste; notes that the Scottish Fiscal Commission has projected a £1.9 billion gap between spending pledges and available funding in the Budget by 2027-28, and believes that, in addition to effectively using the extensive fiscal powers available to it, the Scottish Government should prioritise fiscal competence and transparency in the management of Scotland’s finances.”
15:14Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.