Scottish Budget Rules

The SNP is calling for an end to Treasury control over Scotland's budget ahead of a debate.

Written evidence from The Royal Society of Edinburgh will be presented to Holyrood's Finance Committee today. It argues for a mechanism by which the Scottish and UK governments can negotiate and agree on any adjustments to the block grant. It states that it is 'not acceptable' for decisions to be made unilaterally by the Treasury.

SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson said: “Tory cuts are already causing real hardship for people across Scotland – and with a further £12bn cut to social security planned, the situation is only going to get worse.  That’s exactly why any further changes to Scotland’s budget should be negotiated with the Scottish Government – rather than being unilaterally taken by George Osborne. 

“As further revenue raising powers come to Scotland, critical decisions have to be made about how much to adjust the Block Grant by to account for each new power. It is simply wrong to leave that in the hands of the self-interested Treasury.

“And, when it comes to the Statement of Funding Policy – the rules that govern what consequentials Scotland receives - we have already seen that Treasury control of the rules means Scotland can lose out to the tune of millions of pounds. We only have to look at, for example, the designation of capital projects like London’s Crossrail as national infrastructure projects – with no consequentials for Scotland – to see that the RSE is right to say the Scottish Government must agree what the Statement says and not have it imposed on it. 

“At the General Election, people in Scotland gave the SNP an unprecedented democratic mandate. For the Tory government to continue to have full control of Scotland’s budget is completely unacceptable.”