What does the Scottish Budget mean for you?

This week’s Scottish budget by the SNP Scottish Government was a budget to ease the pressures on Scottish families; a budget for a stronger NHS; and a budget for investment in Scotland’s economy and infrastructure.

Thanks to our cost-of-living commitments, people will be better off because they live in a Scotland led by the SNP.

This is a Scottish Government that cares about Scotland and all its people.

That means the best cost-of-living deal in Britain is getting better. And it is not only about cost of living but, just as importantly, it is about quality of life.

All policies that help with the cost of living but more than that, all policies focused in different ways on the wellbeing of our citizens at each and every stage of their lives.

The choices made in this budget enable us to go further and do more.

Our commitments contrast sharply with what people experience elsewhere in Great Britain where Labour has the power but not the commitment.

We’re investing almost £68 billion in the wellbeing of our people and in the future prosperity of our nation.

The Scottish Government will go further on the abolition of the two-child benefit cap and do more. Instead of shielding people from yet another damaging Westminster policy, we can use £126 million to keep even more Scottish children out of poverty.

Next financial year the transformational Scottish Child Payment will increase in line with inflation, and because of choices made in this budget, from the next year we will boost the payment for families with a baby under one, with a payment increasing to £40 each and every week.

This SNP Scottish Government is delivering the strongest package of support for families with young children anywhere in the UK – from the baby box, to Best Start payments and, of course, the Scottish Child Payment.

This support for mums and dads will help them through that critical first year of their child’s life. Delivering the best start in life for children, and families.

We’re also bringing fairness to our taxation system.

With our income tax plans, even more people in Scotland can expect to pay less in income tax than if they lived in England, Northern Ireland or Wales. That’s over 55% of Scots paying less income tax because they live in Scotland and have a government led by the SNP.

From April 2028, two new Council Tax bands will be introduced for the most expensive properties in Scotland, that is those worth over £1 million, on an up-to-date valuation.

And in April 2027 a new Air Departure Tax will come into force and we will match UK Air Passenger Duty Rates to give certainty to travellers. We will continue to exempt domestic flights from the Highlands and Islands but will use the framework offered by this new Scottish tax to introduce a private jet supplement.

Those who choose to travel by private jet in Scotland will pay a fair share, for that privilege. And, in doing so, they will be helping us make Scotland the fairer nation we all know it can and should be.

As comparisons with other nations of the UK show, self-government works for Scotland. The choices we are able to take, in this, our national parliament, are making a real difference for the people we serve compared to those living in other parts of the UK.

Child poverty in Scotland is at a thirty-year low and has been falling in Scotland while it has risen elsewhere in the UK.

That has been achieved because we can build a social security system that is more compassionate and a tax system that is more progressive.

The amount of electricity generated from renewable sources has increased more than fourfold since 2008, a step change that should mean substantially lower energy bills and will mean lower energy bills when Scotland’s energy is in Scotland’s hands.

We have been able to replace Westminster’s costly private finance initiative with a more cost-effective alternative which has enabled us to build hundreds of new schools and upgrade hundreds of others.

After years when the number of socially rented homes were falling, they are once again increasing in Scotland. Since 2007 we have delivered more than 141,000 affordable homes, of which over 101,000 have been for social rent.

Scotland has been changed for the better by this parliament and by this SNP government.

Decisions for Scotland are better for Scotland when they are made by those who the people of Scotland elect.

But there is so much more to do. Which is why this budget is sharply focused not only on securing those gains, but on the best next steps for our nation.

Our ambition is clear – a Scotland where public services are centred on the needs of the person, not the needs of the system.

For Scotland’s NHS, funding this year will rise to almost £22.5 billion. That includes a record £17.6 billion for health boards who deliver so many of our frontline NHS services, £2.4 billion to support the work of our GPs, primary care and community services, and over £2.3 billion of support for social care.

That means our health service will have the resources it needs to continue the proven reduction in waiting times, and to continue cutting waiting lists.

There will be significant new investment in NHS staff – higher wages, improved training, and action to support staff wellbeing, retention and work-life balance.

Thanks to their efforts the NHS is already getting better after the impact of the pandemic, and this budget will continue to support them, as they work tirelessly to put patients first.

A bigger share of the health budget is going to primary care and that means the number of GPs in Scotland will continue to rise and more GPs will mean easier access.

And because we are committed to ending the 8 am rush, this budget contains the resources necessary to begin the rollout of new walk-in GP clinics.

There will be an ongoing expansion of our ‘hospital at home’ programme, so that more people can receive the care they need in the comfort and security of their own home.

Many young Scots are struggling to get on the housing ladder and struggling to find affordable homes to rent or to buy.

That is why this budget contains record investment that to help deliver even more homes – a new generation of affordable, liveable, energy efficient homes.

Our ambition is for a society that is strong, and an economy that is flourishing.

Scotland is a nation of innovators, of wealth creators, and this budget is designed to support those whose efforts are essential if our economy is to grow.

The most prosperous future for Scotland means being able to use our resources to deliver a clear competitive advantage for Scottish business.

That is why this government believe Scotland’s energy resources should be in Scotland’s hands. There is no good reason why Scottish companies are paying such high energy costs.

Nevertheless, short of independence, there are steps we are taking to see more direct benefits from our renewables revolution in our economy.

That means resources to support the creation of a diverse and sustainable supply-chain for offshore wind here in Scotland.

It means money to support a just transition for our industrial sector, including targeted investment in the Grangemouth Industrial Cluster.

In 2025, Scotland secured a decade-long stretch as the top UK location outside of London for Foreign Direct Investment.

Central to that achievement is the work of our enterprise agencies and the Scottish National Investment Bank and we will invest £1 billion to keeps us on track to invest £2 billion.

The small business bonus scheme, which has removed the burden of rates from 100,000 properties – businesses like hairdressers, bakers, cafes that form the life blood of every community – will continue to deliver for those businesses.

We have chosen to invest in the wellbeing of our society. To provide universal access to services that are about leaving more money in people’s pockets, yes, but also about solidarity, about a way of seeing the world that reflects who we are as a nation. An approach which is about making life a little bit easier for all.

This is a budget for more operations and more appointments in our NHS.

A budget with more people paying less income tax because they live here in Scotland.

With new help, and more help, it is a budget for families.

And fundamentally it is a budget for Scotland.