By Jaimie Kaffash
03 September 2009
The new Forth Crossing will be built regardless of whether Scotland is given borrowing powers by Westminster, the Scottish Government announced as part of its Legislative Programme today.
Addressing the Scottish Parliament on the Forth Crossing Bill, First Minister Alex Salmond insisted that the replacement for the current crossing, which links Edinburgh to Fife, was essential to the Scottish economy. He suggested that economic output would fall by £1bn and up to 3,200 jobs could be lost without it. The cost of the work could hit £2.3bn, he predicted.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman told Public Finance that the devolved Parliament should be given borrowing powers to enable it to pay for the project over a longer period of time. ‘To date the UK Government has rejected this commonsense request,’ she said.
‘We are getting on with the important business of building the crossing on time and on budget. If the Treasury won’t help, the least they should do is not hinder.’
Salmond remained firm on the need for Scotland to be given borrowing powers. ‘It would make sense if, as a nation, we could borrow to spread the cost of building it over several years. But, of course, that is not currently an option,’ he said.
‘That should be all that is required to concentrate minds here and elsewhere on the need for this Parliament to have effective borrowing powers,’ he added.
However, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne last month reiterated the UK government’s opposition to Scottish borrowing powers in a letter to Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney. ‘This is not a solution, as it would have a significant fiscal impact by substantially increasing your spending. That is not possible to justify in terms of our overall public spending framework,’ he wrote.
Among the other 12 Bills announced in the Legislative Programme is the Housing Bill, which proposed an end to right-to-buy on all new social housing to address the shortage of homes – a policy already implemented by many Scottish local authorities.
The Scottish National Party also announced its intention to push through a referendum on full independence, but there is not thought to be enough support in Holyrood among the other parties.
03 September 2009
The new Forth Crossing will be built regardless of whether Scotland is given borrowing powers by Westminster, the Scottish Government announced as part of its Legislative Programme today.
Addressing the Scottish Parliament on the Forth Crossing Bill, First Minister Alex Salmond insisted that the replacement for the current crossing, which links Edinburgh to Fife, was essential to the Scottish economy. He suggested that economic output would fall by £1bn and up to 3,200 jobs could be lost without it. The cost of the work could hit £2.3bn, he predicted.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman told Public Finance that the devolved Parliament should be given borrowing powers to enable it to pay for the project over a longer period of time. ‘To date the UK Government has rejected this commonsense request,’ she said.
‘We are getting on with the important business of building the crossing on time and on budget. If the Treasury won’t help, the least they should do is not hinder.’
Salmond remained firm on the need for Scotland to be given borrowing powers. ‘It would make sense if, as a nation, we could borrow to spread the cost of building it over several years. But, of course, that is not currently an option,’ he said.
‘That should be all that is required to concentrate minds here and elsewhere on the need for this Parliament to have effective borrowing powers,’ he added.
However, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne last month reiterated the UK government’s opposition to Scottish borrowing powers in a letter to Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney. ‘This is not a solution, as it would have a significant fiscal impact by substantially increasing your spending. That is not possible to justify in terms of our overall public spending framework,’ he wrote.
Among the other 12 Bills announced in the Legislative Programme is the Housing Bill, which proposed an end to right-to-buy on all new social housing to address the shortage of homes – a policy already implemented by many Scottish local authorities.
The Scottish National Party also announced its intention to push through a referendum on full independence, but there is not thought to be enough support in Holyrood among the other parties.
