Scots Secretary acknowledges budget cut

The SNP have hit out at the Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy, after he attempted to bury an acknowledgement that the UK Government is to slash Scotland’s budget in a lecture on spending priorities in the national press.

In an interview with the Herald newspaper, Mr Murphy acknowledged the UK Government was slashing the Scottish Budget - but said it was up to the Scottish Government to make efficiency savings.

Cabinet Secretary for Finance John Swinney MSP said:

"At long last, Jim Murphy has blurted out the truth that the UK Government plans to impose swingeing cuts in Scotland’s budget. It has also left Iain Gray and Andy Kerr at Holyrood looking ridiculous with their incredible claims that Scotland’s budget is rising, with Labour’s daily demands for yet more public spending. Thanks to Westminster decisions, Scotland’s budget is falling in real terms next year, and all of the evidence – including the Centre for Public Policy in the Regions report last week – is that even steeper cuts are planned for the years thereafter.

"Only now is Jim Murphy admitting to the warning that the Scottish Government have been making for months about public spending – and in doing so is also undermining Iain Gray and Labour at Holyrood. Even as Labour in London impose cuts in Scotland’s budget – with Holyrood having some £814 million less to spend next year – Labour MSPs demand more spending in every single portfolio: Michael McMahon wants £270 million more for local government alone. But there is never a single word of explanation as to where more slices of money can come from when London Labour are cutting the size of Scotland’s overall cake.

"In terms of savings, the SNP administration is pioneering efficient government programmes, which exceeded their targets by some £300 million last year.

"We have efficiency savings of two per cent every year – cumulatively six per cent over the spending review period – which are double the UK Government’s target of three per cent. And unlike the UK Government, our savings are reinvested in front-line services. The number of national public bodies has already been cut from 199 to 161, and will be further reduced to around 120 by 2011.

"Projects already delivered are estimated to save taxpayers £127 million between 2008 and 2013, with projected annual savings of £36 million each year thereafter. And the proposals in the Public Services Reform Bill should increase annual savings to over £40 million."

SNP Treasury Spokesperson Stewart Hosie MP said:

"After months of saying it ain’t so, the Scottish Secretary has finally acknowledged that the UK Government is making savage cuts to Scotland’s budget – squeezing Scottish services and endangering Scottish jobs.

"To add insult to injury, this cruel cut comes as the Pre Budget Report confirms £50 billion of North Sea Oil revenues will flow into a Treasury black hole and prop up the UK economy over the next six years.

"Never before has the case for independence been more pressing. Scotland can manage our economy and finances far more effectively than the UK Government has ever done but Westminster is holding us back."

SNP Shadow Scotland Office Spokesperson Angus MacNeil MP added:

"Instead of lecturing the Scottish Government on spending priorities, the Secretary of State should be fighting against this swingeing cut to Scotland’s budget. This latest debacle underlines that Jim Murphy is not Scotland’s man in London but London’s man in Scotland.

"The UK Government needs to cut the things the people of Scotland neither need nor want: the obscene Trident nuclear weapons system and the pointless Scotland Office must top that list."