The UK and Scottish governments have been warned against playing the "blame game" after £500 million of public service cuts were announced.

Savings announced by Finance Secretary Shona Robison were blamed on the financial "failures" of the UK Government, while Scottish Labour has said ministers in Scotland were "passing the buck".

The cuts include restrictions on active travel funding and on budgets set aside for NHS training.

Researchers from two leading think tanks have now warned ministers against pinning the blame, arguing instead that it was ineffective in addressing the issues of balancing the budget.

David Phillips of the Institute for Fiscal Studies said Ms Robison "tries to pin the blame for these difficult decisions on Westminster", adding that the UK Government was "very tight" in light of Chancellor Rachel Reeves' spending audit.

But he said: "The Scottish Government isn't blameless here. It is already clear at the start of the year that things were going to be financially challenging, with public sector pay deals of 2 to 3% likely insufficient to avoid industrial action."

(Image: Andrew Milligan)

He also said "more difficult decisions" were likely next year, but urged ministers to use the forthcoming budget to be clear about Scottish Government spending priorities.

David Hawkey, senior research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research, pinpointed 

specific policies from both a UK and Scottish level which contributed to the scale of the financial problems.

He said the budgetary constraints came from “many directions” including from “unforced and poor value choices” from the Scottish Government.

Those choices included the council tax freeze and the commitment to fully dual the A9, he said.

“We need to move beyond the blame game for the current crisis, to build a better approach for tomorrow.

“Scotland needs to work out how we deal with the effects of our ageing demographic profile and how we cover the transitional costs of net zero.

“We need to take seriously the role of public spending in addressing these issues, and that inevitably means sharing costs across society through the tax system.”

READ MORE: Shona Robison confirms £500 million cut to public services 

READ MORE: Robison told contingency plan needed as spending cuts loom 

READ MORE: Analysis: Swinney faces own ‘watershed’ week amid cuts 

In a statement to Parliament, the Finance Secretary said: “In the face of these challenges, the Scottish Government has stepped in to support people and services where it has been needed most: on social security, health and public services. But we have done so without equivalent action from the UK Government, which has repeatedly failed to properly review the adequacy of funding settlements.

“We cannot ignore the severe financial pressures we face. We will continue to be a fiscally responsible government and balance the budget each year, as we have done every year for 17 years and as we will do again this year. But this will mean we must unfortunately take difficult decisions along the way.”

Last week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves accused the Scottish Government of being "as guilty" as the previous Conservative-led UK Government on the country's finances.

Meanwhile, Jamie Livingston, head of Oxfam Scotland, said: “More hardship and hollowing out of public spending are the very last thing Scotland needs when economic inequality is rising, poverty rates are stubbornly high and climate change targets are crumbling.  

“We simply can’t afford to keep being shortchanged by an unfair tax system – whether at UK or Scotland level – that favours the wealthiest. 

“As Scottish ministers prepare next year’s budget and a critical new tax strategy, they must swap these cuts with courage and launch far reaching reforms to devolved taxation to help deliver a fairer, more prosperous country that benefits everyone, not just the privileged few.”