Nicola Sturgeon has suffered a blow to her authority after opposition parties blocked a motion on her government’s budget in protest at spending cuts and her tax policy.
Labour, the Tories, Scottish Greens and Liberal Democrats combined to vote against the amended motion supportive of the government’s plans.
The final vote was tied 63 to 63, forcing the presiding officer to vote against the motion under Holyrood’s standing orders.
The vote was symbolic and not part of the official budget process, but it was the latest in a string of defeats at Holyrood for Sturgeon’s minority government.
Opposition parties said the result should force Derek Mackay, the Scottish finance secretary, to compromise on his spending plans when he puts the draft budget to its first official vote next week.
Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, said: “The fact that parliament refused to back the SNP’s budget proves that the nationalists can’t simply bulldoze their plans through Holyrood. If the SNP wants to pass a budget, it needs to work with the other parties and scrap its plan for £327m of cuts to local services.”
Willie Rennie, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, confirmed later that he was prepared to vote against the final budget knowing that such a move risked triggering a snap Holyrood election.
“Liberal Democrats have been engaged in serious discussions and will continue to do so,” he said. “However, if the SNP fail to deliver a significant compromise on their budget then we are on the path towards a snap election which would not be to the benefit of the people of Scotland.”
In 2009 the then first minister, Alex Salmond, threatened to dissolve his minority government after the Scottish Greens voted against a draft budget. In the event, Labour, the Tories and Lib Dems backed a barely revised budget package to avoid a crisis, voting it through by 123 to two.
With the Tories and Labour unlikely to back this year’s budget because of disputes over income tax rates and cuts to council funding, Mackay will focus on negotiating with the two minority parties, the Scottish Greens and Lib Dems.
The Greens are pressing publicly for increases in higher-rate income tax bands to make the tax regime more progressive and to fund greater public spending. The Lib Dems, who also want higher tax rates, want up to £400m extra spent on mental health, education, the police and transport.
Mackay insisted his budget was fair and said voting the budget down would lead to the loss of additional spending on health, education and local services.
“It’s Labour that will be passing on austerity to the households of Scotland,” he said. “Scotland is a wealthy and successful nation. The threat to Scotland’s economy right now is Brexit, and the Scottish government has set out a plan to put Scotland in the best possible position.”
Mackay can push his budget through if either the Greens or Lib Dems opt to abstain, so he may offer less costly or politically damaging concessions than they are seeking.
