THE Scottish Secretary has claimed that the latest spending and revenue statistics for the Scottish Government demonstrated the “collective economic strength of the United Kingdom”.
Ian Murray hailed the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) figures which he said showed that Scots benefitted from £2,669 higher public spending per head than the rest of the UK.
GERS figures released on Wednesday showed that devolved revenue was growing faster than spending but that the deficit had widened because of declining North Sea oil and gas revenues.
Devolved revenue grew by 9.7% in 2024-25, as devolved expenditure increased by 6.8%.
Murray said: “These figures underline the collective economic strength of the United Kingdom and how Scotland benefits from the redistribution of wealth inside the UK.
“By sharing resources with each other across the UK, Scots benefit by £2,669 more per head in public spending than the UK average. It also means that Devolved Governments have the financial heft of the wider UK behind them when taking decisions.
“That means more money for schools, hospitals and policing, if the Scottish Parliament chooses to invest in those areas. People in Scotland will rightly expect to see better outcomes.”
GERS is a source of significant controversy because of the estimates of UK Government spending in reserved areas, such as defence.
Finance Secretary Shona Robison (above) said that the figures showed the SNP’s fiscal policies were “helping support sustainable public finances” but questioned the estimates for reserved spending.
She said: “The GERS statistics reflect only the current constitutional arrangements – of Scotland as part of the UK – and not an independent Scotland with its own policy, decisions on defence spending and the economy.
“GERS allocates Scotland a population share of reserved UK spending rather than accounting for real expenditure. For example, UK defence expenditure is listed as £5.1 billion, but only £2.1bn was actually spent with industry in Scotland in 2023-24.”
However, Murray said that the figures showed that granting full fiscal autonomy to the Scottish Government would “mean turbo-charged austerity and economic chaos for Scotland”.
