Finance Secretary Derek Mackay has vowed to protect “vital public services” and prioritise spending on health and education in his forthcoming Scottish Budget – despite not yet appearing to have the support to get his plans through Holyrood.
Mr Mackay said he would have talks with other parties “in the weeks ahead and into the New Year” in a bid to convince them to back his tax and spending plans for 2019-20.
He spoke after the Scottish Greens revealed they have not yet entered formal negotiations with SNP ministers.
Green co-convener Patrick Harvie said he would be “ready to talk” ahead of Wednesday’s Budget statement at Holyrood – but also stressed the Scottish Government needed to do more on the key issue of local tax reform.
With the SNP no longer having a majority in the Scottish Parliament, the Finance Secretary needs the support of at least one other party if his financial package is to be approved.
However, the Liberal Democrats have already ended Budget talks with ministers – citing the SNP’s insistence that their “damaging and costly plan for an independence referendum had to stay on the table” as the reason for this.
Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said this left the Government “at the mercy” of the Greens.
Scottish Greens co-convener Patrick Harvie insisted ministers needed to commit to “wider reform” of local government taxation.
He said: “We have been given a clear instruction from our party members that we can only enter formal budget negotiations if there is meaningful progress on local tax reform to make a fairer system that protects services and cuts inequality.
“Replacing council tax with a fairer alternative can’t happen overnight, but the work must begin now. Three years ago this week the SNP agreed with the Greens, Labour and the Lib Dems that ‘the present system of council tax must end’.
“If they are unwilling to recommit to that policy and start working on making that pledge a reality, then they will be choosing to close off any chance of reaching a budget agreement with the Greens.”
Mr Mackay insisted the proposals he will outline will “protect vital public services and prioritise spending on health, education and economic investment”.
He stated: “Our policies have already ensured that Scotland benefits from quality public services and our progressive reforms to income tax have protected those on the lowest incomes.”
While he cited Brexit as continuing to be the “biggest threat to Scotland’s prosperity”, he insisted his proposals would “not be defined” by this.
Instead, he said the Budget “will set out how we help protect Scotland as far as we can from the damaging uncertainty of the UK Government’s Brexit policy”.
Labour wants the Budget to include a rail fares freeze for ScotRail travellers and a £5 a week rise in child benefit, which it said would lift 30,000 youngsters out of poverty.
The Tories want the SNP to commit to no new tax rises in 2019-20, after Mr Mackay made a number of changes to income tax in Scotland this year, leaving some higher earners paying more than their counterparts south of the border.
Conservative finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said: “The SNP must give taxpayers a fair deal on taxation, invest in public services and no new tax rises.”
But SNP MSP Angela Constance said: “If the Tories want to promise high earners a handout, they have to explain what public service they’d cut to fund it – otherwise nobody will take them seriously.
“People know that public services need investment, and think it’s fair that higher earners pay their fair share to fund our schools and hospitals.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel