MSPs vote to back draft Budget as Lib Dems agree deal with Scottish Government
The Lib Dems confirmed they had struck a deal on social care, hospices and hospitality.
MSPs have voted to back the draft Scottish Budget at stage one as the Government announced changes due to a deal with the Lib Dems.
Finance Secretary Shona Robison proposed the Budget (Scotland) (No.5) Bill, which was supported by 65 votes to 30 at stage one on Thursday. There were 24 abstentions.
Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Jamie Greene confirmed in the chamber at First Minister’s Questions that the Lib Dems had struck a Budget deal with the Scottish Government on social care, hospices and hospitality.
Mr Greene: “I did also make it clear that we needed to see more for hospices, for care providers, for hospitality and self catering all crying out for more support.
“It sounds like today we have made some progress for social care, for hospices and on business rates – my calculation puts that as just shy of £300 million for Liberal Democrat priorities.
“Why? Because we chose to negotiate properly and get things done so we will support the Budget this afternoon.”
Scottish Labour finance spokesman Michael Marra said the Budget “will not last the year”, predicting that the next Scottish government will be forced to call an emergency budget.
Mr Marra welcomed the changes to business rates made in the Government’s deal with the Lib Dems, announced on Thursday, but said it did not go far enough, with his party supporting a pause to the ongoing non-domestic rates revaluation.
The Budget is all but certain to pass Holyrood in the coming weeks, with Labour announcing before the plans were even unveiled that it would abstain and effectively wave it through.
Mr Marra claimed that he did lay out a list of his party’s demands to the Finance Secretary, but never heard back.
The Labour MSP ended his speech with an election pitch, saying: “The fact remains that this SNP Government will never take the bold decisive action needed to fix what they have broken in our country – the real opportunity for change will be on May 7, when we finally kick out this knackered SNP Government and choose a new direction for Scotland with Scottish Labour.”
Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer said his party remained open to working with the Government on its Budget proposals, but would need more concessions before the party could back it.
“I announced earlier today that the Greens will be abstaining in the Budget,” he said.
“I am proud of what we’ve achieved so far, I do believe that agreement is possible with the Government, but our job is to be a challenger, our job is to push the Government to go further, often to push the Government to go outside of its comfort zone, because we know that change is still needed.”
However, the Scottish Conservatives remained highly critical of the proposals in the Budget.
Scottish Conservative MSP Craig Hoy said: “This Budget does not add up. It does not add up for Scottish taxpayers, with more people dragged into ever higher tax under the SNP.
“It does not add up for Scottish councils, which are now considering brutal cuts and blistering increases in council tax, despite the discovery of an additional 20 million pounds today for social care.
“And it does not add up for Scotland’s NHS, with health boards effectively facing no real terms growth in spending. And it certainly does not add up for Scotland’s pubs and shops, which, despite today’s U-turn on reliefs, still face crippling increases in business tax.”
The Scottish Conservatives have been particularly critical of the SNP’s spending on benefits.
Mr Hoy said: “Yet again the SNP are reaching for the only lever they ever pull, clobbering middle income earners with higher income tax bills.
“And, by the end of this decade, one in three Scots will be paying the SNP’s higher rates of tax, a tax intended for the few, now being paid by the many.
“And why is tax soaring in Scotland? Because, under the SNP, the benefits bill is frankly, out of control.”
