By David Scott
15 September 2010
The UK government should think again about the scale of its planned spending cuts, Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney has said.
He told members of the Holyrood finance committee on September 14 that the
proposed reductions were almost twice the level recommended by the
International Monetary Fund for developed countries.
Swinney was giving evidence to MSPs on the recently published report of an
independent budget review group set up by the Scottish Government to consider
options for spending cuts.
Questioned by Liberal Democrat MSP Jeremy Purvis, Swinney said: ‘The scale of
reductions in public spending across the UK, the implications of which will be
felt in Scotland, represents a position which reduces public expenditure too
far and too fast.’
He pointed out that the UK government was essentially presiding over a level of
fiscal consolidation in 2011/12 of about 2.4%.
He added: ‘If you look at the current output of the International Monetary
Fund, their view is that the level of reduction for countries in the developed
countries is of the order of about 1.25%.’
Pressed on whether he thought a 1.25% reduction in the Scottish budget would be
appropriate, he replied: ‘What I’m saying is that I think a situation where the
UK government is reducing public expenditure just short of twice the level that
the IMF believes to be appropriate should encourage the UK government to think
again about the scale of the reductions they propose to apply.’
Questioned on public sector workforce costs, Swinney told MSPs there was
already a ‘presumption’ against external staff recruitment to the Scottish
Government. He also warned that pay awards next year would be more
‘constrained’ than the 1% public sector increase awarded in the current year.
Swinney stressed that jobs could be protected only if staff were prepared to
change working practices.
Swinney was one of the ministers attending Treasury talks with the devolved
administrations, ahead of the Spending Review, on September 15.
