Shona Robison has praised Rachel Reeves’ tax and spending plans, describing them as a “step in the right direction” and even suggested she would be open to a deal with Scottish Labour to get her own budget passed.

The Finance Secretary also confirmed that extra money for capital spending coming to the Scottish Government would go towards the affordable housing budget.

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The UK Government says the Chancellor's spending decisions should mean a £3.4 billion boost to the Scottish Government’s settlement through the Barnett formula.

This year’s budget should see a £1.5bn increase.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones told journalists that the decisions mean the Scottish Government is now “receiving 20% more per person than equivalent spending across the rest of the UK”.

Around £2.8bn of the extra money will be for day-to-day spending while £610 million is for capital investment.

Speaking to journalists in Holyrood, Ms Robison said: “I would say it's a step in the right direction and has listened to some of the demands that we made around the need for investment in public services and in capital investment.

“We were facing a £1.3bn cut and now we have capital availability for 25/26 that will allow us to invest, for example, in affordable housing.

“So it's a step in the right direction. 

"A one-year budget doesn't end 14 years of austerity.

“What happens next is the critical question. We need sustained investment, and that's something we'll be pushing for.”

Asked if she would now reverse cuts to the affordable housing budget, the minister said:“I will kick off the budget process on December 4, and I'll set out our position then. And of course, we are having dialogue across the parliament with other parties, and I know that affordable housing is a priority for others as well last month.”

As a minority government, the SNP needs the support of at least one other party to get its budget passed.

Asked if the budget meant a deal was likely with Labour, Ms Robison replied: “Well, my door is open to everybody. And I've said I want to build as broad a coalition for the budget as I can.

“I think that would be a positive thing actually, and there's hopefully a lot that people will agree on, and you know, that will then be, though, a challenge to the parties.

“Can they step out of their tradition of not supporting the budget to a different place?”

One of the big winners in Ms Reeves’ budget was the NHS. The day-to-day health budget is increasing by £22.6bn. She also announced a £3.1bn increase in the capital budget.

The Chancellor described this as the “largest real-terms growth in day-to-day NHS spending outside of Covid since 2010”.

Asked if she would pass all consequentials on to the NHS in Scotland, Ms Robison said she would.

The SNP frontbencher said they were looking through the figures to work out exactly how much that would be, but that they had for “many years” passed on consequentials as a result of health spending to the NHS.

“Indeed, we have quite often supplemented that with additional resources," she added.

One of the surprise decisions taken by Ms Reeves was to increase income tax thresholds in line with inflation from 2028-29, rather than freezing them. This means fewer people will suffer from “fiscal drag” where rising wages see them pulled into higher tax bands.

Ms Robison was asked if this meant that she would not put up taxes.

However, the Finance Secretary said she could not get ahead of the Scottish budget and that would be something she would first need to share with Parliament.

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Meanwhile, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar insisted the budget was "transformative."

"This budget delivers on the promises made in the election, ends the era of austerity, provides vital new investment for our public services and prioritises economic growth,” he said.

“When Scotland voted for a Labour government they voted for change and an end to austerity - today’s budget has delivered both.

“This transformative Labour Budget is good for workers, good for public services and good for Scotland.”

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said the tax-raising budget was “straight out of the SNP playbook.”

“We know what Sir Keir Starmer is going as for Halloween – Nicola Sturgeon,” he said.

The MSP added: “Starmer’s Labour has played a cruel trick on working people by breaking election promises not to raise taxes, just like the nationalists in Edinburgh.

“Anas Sarwar calls Rachel Reeves his ‘friend’, but many in Scotland won’t feel that way when Labour snatch more of their hard-earned money.”

Scottish Green finance spokesperson, Ross Greer described the budget as “timid.”

“Labour has under-promised and still somehow under-delivered,” he said.

“The Chancellor could have targeted the super-rich to bring in the funding needed to undo cruel Tory policies and drop Labour’s own cuts. Instead, she has chosen to hike up bus fares in England and pour £3bn into keeping a climate-busting fuel duty freeze.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said the budget left SNP ministers with “major choices to make”.

“In the past they have chosen poorly, wasting hundreds of millions on ferries that have not been delivered and tens of millions on a bureaucratic takeover of social care which will probably now never happen.”

Acting Alba Party leader Kenny MacAskill described the plans as a “continuity budget that proves that regardless of whether we have a UK Tory Government or a UK Labour Government, Scotland will always lose."