THE Scottish Budget passed last week sets out how the Scottish Government will protect folk across Scotland and sustain public services in tough times, while supporting a sustainable economy and addressing the climate emergency. It is a budget that has been set in a deeply challenging financial situation – in fact, the most challenging since devolution.

At a time when there was an opportunity to give a much-needed injection of cash into services and infrastructure, using £27 billion of fiscal headroom in his Autumn Statement, the UK Tory Chancellor chose to cut taxes for the wealthy. The knock-on effect means a 1.2 per cent real-terms fall in Scotland’s block grant, with capital spending due to contract by almost 10 per cent in real terms over five years.

Despite this, the Scottish Government has chosen to invest in our people. The Scottish Child Payment of £25 per week has been credited for lifting thousands of children out of poverty. It is utterly unacceptable that, in 2024, children continue to live in poverty in Scotland. In East Lothian alone, nearly 6,000 children receive the Scottish Child Payment.

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We are in this situation with the budget because of constraints placed on us by a UK Government that does not share our values or our commitment to public services.

Not only from the pathetic budget settlement from the UK Government are we being let down by Westminster’s failure. Our green investment lags so far behind the competition in Europe. European nations are lining up to export our green energy resources from Scotland, while the UK Government does nothing to invest in the domestic infrastructure we require to transition into a green economy. It is absurd that in energy-rich Scotland, families are forced to pay higher and higher energy bills, and a lack of investment or policy from the UK Government is threatening Scottish jobs in the green economy.

We as a Scottish Government will always do our best with the powers we have, but there is simply no substitute for independence.