AS YOU’LL have no doubt seen by now, Derek Mackay, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, announced his first draft Scottish budget last week.

Much had been made over allegations that the Scottish Government was set to take a large chunk of the higher rate increase in council tax away from local government – I’m pleased to see these allegations were unfounded, and that money raised will be spent directly in the council areas it came from.

The Cabinet Secretary has also taken steps to help mitigate issues in other fields, such as the NHS. We plan to invest an extra £304 million in our health services; this is a significant step towards our manifesto commitment of an extra £500 million above inflation over this Parliament.

If this budget passes, there will also be investment in new and existing infrastructure plans like the Queensferry Crossing and over £470 million of investment to create 50,000 affordable homes.

From a personal perspective, I believe this is the exact kind of budget we need given the uncertainty of these times. When Labour are accusing you of not being left enough and the Tories are accusing you of not going far enough to the right, you have to know you’re doing something right.

Speaking of the Tories, it’s clearly not going so well on the Brexit front. We’re now hearing that it could take a decade to negotiate a trade deal with the European Union – that would be another 10 years of financial and political uncertainty, with at least one UK election in that period.

Finally, my sincerest thanks go to Alistair Barclay and the other staff at Musselburgh’s Sandwich Stop, who will be serving free meals to the homeless, emergency services staff and people on their own on Christmas Day. This is a tremendously noble and warm-hearted gesture.