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Public sector budget cuts
29/01/2010
Scotland's budget is facing 'years of cuts due to the debts run up by the UK Government', Finance Secretary John Swinney said today.
Speaking following a conference on Public Sector Budget Cuts, the Finance Secretary said that the clear and compelling alternative is financial independence, given Scotland's stronger fiscal position than the UK as a whole.
Mr Swinney said:
"For some time I have warned that the implications of the UK Government's mishandling of the public finances would be substantial, leading to deep cuts in Scotland's budget.
"Disappointingly, the Treasury still fail to provide the detail we need to be clear about the exact size of the reductions in spending Westminster will impose on Scotland.
"But very few people now fail to acknowledge the scale of the challenge we face.
"Across Parliament and across Scotland's public sector, we have a responsibility to work together and ensure that our spending is sustainable.
"The budget we have proposed for next year proves that is already happening. Despite the first cut in our settlement since devolution, we are protecting spending on front line services and investing in economic recovery.
"To help achieve that, we are taking significant steps to free up spending. That process started with the Scottish Government looking first at our own operations and cutting £14 million from the administration budget, and reducing the amount we spend on communications and marketing by half.
"We are driving efficiencies across the public sector over and above the tough targets we have set, and saved £300 million more than planned in 2008-09.
"And we are determined to keep a tight rein on public sector pay. Ministers have already taken a pay freeze, and we will freeze the pay of senior civil servants and of other senior staff who fall under our remit. We will set out the full parameters going forward on pay when we publish our pay policy shortly.
"This is the new reality that we must all operate in. That is why, on a cross party basis, I have urged Parliament to be realistic when they consider next year's budget. I hope that appeal is reflected in the approach taken by Parliament we reach the final vote on our proposals next week.
"Beyond the immediate issue of the budget, there can be no doubt that financial independence for Scotland is the clear and compelling alternative to the mismanagement of our finances by successive UK governments. For example, the latest Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland report demonstrated that Scotland recorded a current budget surplus over the three years to 2007-08 of £2.3 billion, while the UK ran up a deficit of £24 billion over the same period.
"In addition, we propose saving enormous sums of public money by scrapping plans for a new generation of Trident nuclear weapons to be based in Scotland - a position supported by the Scottish Parliament as well as the Government.
"Extending the powers of the Parliament and boosting Scotland's prosperity are two vital processes which go hand in hand."