Scotland’s First Minister has urged parties in Holyrood to reach agreement on the budget quickly to provide certainty to public services.
Finance Secretary Shona Robison will lay out the Government’s tax and spending plans on January 13 in a process shortened by the lateness of the UK Government Budget in November.
Speaking to the Press Association, John Swinney pushed for parties to work quickly to reach a deal which will get the budget over the line as the Government looks to secure “broad agreement” ahead of the Bill facing its final stage in early March.
“One of the things that I am concerned about is that that truncates the notice about budget that can be available to a lot of organisations,” he said.
“So I’m very mindful that this relates our dialogue with opposition parties about making sure that we offer as much certainty as we can as early as we can.
“Leaving it until early March is quite a challenge, because the financial year ends at the end of March.
“We’ll be working to try to create as much certainty as early as we possibly can do because that will be beneficial for countless organisations, principally third sector organisations and local authorities, about what the funding level is going to be next year.”
At the UK Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced plans to scrap the two-child benefit cap, freeing up cash for the Scottish Government, which had already pledged tens of millions to mitigate the policy north of the border.
Before the announcement, the First Minister said any savings made as a result of the cap being scrapped would be re-invested in initiatives aimed at reducing child poverty, what he has described as his Government’s overarching mission.
The First Minister refused to say how the money would be deployed, but was clear he has been presented with multiple options, adding: “The choices and the prioritisation is under way just now, but the absolute commitment is there that the resources that we would have spent on lifting the two-child limit will be in place to support other measures to reduce child poverty.”
Speaking to PA, Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay said the price of his party’s support would be, at least, aligning income taxes in Scotland with the rest of the UK.
But the First Minister did not seem willing to cut taxes, saying: “I think some of the points that are advanced by the Conservatives are not aligned with our principles and our programmes, but we’ll talk to them to see what progress can be made.”
