15 June 2007
The minority Scottish National Party administration at Holyrood could be forced to revise its budget under proposed reforms backed by opposition parties.
Arthur Midwinter, visiting professor at the Institute of Public Sector Accounting Research at Edinburgh University, has suggested that the budget rules should be changed to allow parliamentary committees to make amendments that the Executive would be required to accept.
He said this was needed in the interests of democracy, as the SNP was a minority administration that required the support of other parties to govern.
Midwinter, a former adviser to the Parliament's finance committee, said: 'If Scotland is now to have a new politics based on consensus and compromise, it also needs a budget process which reflects the parliamentary balance.'
At present, only ministers can make changes to the annual budget, which currently totals £30bn.
Leading opposition members said they would back the plans. But an Executive spokeswoman said the government saw no case for changing the budget arrangements.
PFjun2007
