John Swinney has denied the Scottish Government’s efforts to close a budget black hole amount to “SNP austerity”, saying the devolved administration is instead “living within its means”.
The Finance Secretary is expected to announce a series of cuts to public spending, reported to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds, when Holyrood returns from the summer recess on Tuesday.
The First Minister has also said the Government will set out its position on council tax during the Budget process.
He spoke to the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland radio programme on Monday, following his speech at the SNP conference at the weekend.
He said policy choices like the Scottish Child Payment mean child poverty is at a lower level in Scotland than elsewhere in the UK.
While Scotland is facing “real budgetary challenges”, he said Sir Keir Starmer’s Government had chosen to “prolong austerity”.
The BBC’s Gary Robertson put it to the First Minister that Labour are moving money to pay for public sector pay deals and Mr Swinney’s Government is going to be in “exactly the same position” – asking if Finance Secretary Shona Robison’s statement would be “SNP austerity”.
Mr Swinney denied this is the case and said the Scottish Government is “living within its means”, adding: “We’ve made the hard choices about expanding the resources that are available to us.
It was put to Mr Swinney that when he took over as First Minister he was briefed on the “dire state of the public finances”, with this taking place before Labour came to power in Westminster.
Mr Swinney said: “Why on earth do you think I went through the election campaign, Gary, making the point that the public finances and public services were under acute pressure because of sky high inflation?”
He said the Scottish Government had balanced its budget each year and Labour had “accepted” the fiscal rules of the Conservatives.
Responding to reports of council tax increases in the next year, The First Minister said his Government’s position would be set out during the Budget process in December.
After the financial update from Ms Robison, Mr Swinney is expected to address the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday as he unveils his first Programme for Government.
Scottish Labour called for the SNP to “wake up” to the scale of the challenges facing Scotland while the Scottish Greens called for “bold climate action” to be central to the legislative plans for the next 12 months.
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “It’s time for the SNP to wake up to the scale of the challenges facing Scotland on its watch – from record NHS waiting lists to a stagnant economy to a growing attainment gap.
“Year after year we have heard the same warm words from the SNP, but the spiral of decline continues.
“Instead of looking to deflect blame and make excuses, the SNP should set out a real plan to fix the mess it has made.”
The Scottish Greens published a policy paper on Monday with proposals to expedite climate action, including scrapping the plan to reintroduce peak rail fares, diverting funds from the A96 dualling into public transport and creating a “real and urgent” transition plan for the energy sector.
“With the Programme for Government and the new Climate Bill only days away, we need to see the kind of bold climate action that will make a difference,” the party’s co-leader Patrick Harvie said.
“Particularly over recent months there have been very worrying signs of the Scottish Government moving away from its climate commitments.
“The SNP spent an election trying to face both ways on oil and gas, then they hiked up rail fares and asked councils to raid the nature restoration fund. These are not the actions of a government that is doing all it can for our climate.
“We cannot underestimate the scale of change that is needed, or the importance of the decisions that will be made in the weeks and months ahead.”
