John Swinney calls for Collaboration ahead of SNP budget battle

But in a speech at the Royal Society of Edinburgh to mark St Andrew’s Day, the First Minister has tempered expectations his administration will look to win backing from other parties with significant spending promises. 

He is expected to tell the audience of representatives from organisations across the public and private sectors, that "mounting" domestic issues cannot be fixed simply by throwing money at them, or finding "someone to blame".

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In his remarks, Mr Swinney will promise to prioritise budget spending on his four priorities: eradicating child poverty, growing the economy, investing in public services and tackling the climate emergency.

The SNP leader is expected to say: “Scotland is best served when we collaborate, when we build consensus and work together across sectors, across disciplines and across cultures.

“The need to do so has never been more urgent. For the issues we face now are complex, pervasive and entrenched – and they are mounting.

“In these last seven years, we have seen global challenges stacked upon global challenges. From Brexit and Covid-19 to international conflicts, economic crises and climate disasters.

“On top of this, we have seen domestic problems, such as delayed discharge and the availability of housing, become more and more acute, due to rapidly increasing need in our society.

“Yet, too often – and particularly in politics – discussions and the public discourse are dominated by surface solutions, because they are the few that can gain consensus.

"The temptation then arises to throw money and strategies at a problem, or simply to find someone to blame for it, because the hard work of finding true consensus, of peer reviewing ideas in good faith, can feel unrealistic in our increasingly polarised reality.”

Mr Swinney said politicians needed to “maintain enough hope and energy to work together, to understand the root causes and the complexity of problems and to find the right solutions.”

He added that this “may not always be quick or easy – but that does not make them any less necessary.”

This, the SNP leader promised, would be “the approach that people should expect from a Swinney government.”

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Responding, Scottish Labour Deputy Leader, Dame Jackie Baillie said her party would “always work constructively to deliver for the people of Scotland” but that the SNP was “out of ideas.”

She added: “With almost one in six Scots stuck on an NHS waiting list, our schools falling down the international league tables, and our justice system in turmoil, Scots need more than soundbites from the First Minister.

“Our country needs a change in direction and frankly a change in government.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Willie Rennie was sceptical. He said: “Over the last seventeen years SNP ministers have castigated opponents and shifted blame to everyone else so they will have to go some to convince us they are now imbued with consensus and compromise.    

“The SNP often reach out for support when they are in trouble and that’s certainly true now.  There is a lot to fix with a sluggish economy, an NHS with huge waits, a social care sector on its knees and an education system under great stress. 

“We will work in good faith because we do need to pass a budget but the SNP will need to make an offer that is big enough to make it possible for us to support.”

With the SNP three MSPs short of a majority, Finance Secretary Shona Robison needs the backing of opposition parties or for at least four opposition MSPs to abstain.

Failing to do so could ultimately trigger a snap Holyrood election.

She will likely be supported by independent Glasgow Shettleston MSP John Mason.

Although he was recently expelled from the SNP, he has indicated he will continue to support the party’s tax and spending plans.

It seems increasingly unlikely that either Labour or the Tories will back the SNP, but both the Greens and the Lib Dems have all set out their spending priorities.

Yesterday, Alba's sole MSP and Holyrood leader, Ash Regan, suggested she could back Ms Robison if the Scottish Government takes action on the Winter Fuel Payment and funds universal provision of free school meals.

She said: “I have offered the Government reasonable solutions to focus on protecting Scotland's vulnerable pensioners this winter and ensuring that every primary school child in Scotland can access healthy school lunches as previously promised.”

Over the weekend, the Scottish LibDems made it clear they will vote down the Budget if it contains any spending on independence.

Speaking to the BBC Scotland's Sunday Show, leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said the public had sent the SNP a "clear message" in the recent General Election that they are "done with the constitution".

Meanwhile, the Scottish Greens have said they will only back the Budget if no cuts to independence spending are made.