By David
Scott
21 October 2010
The impact of the Spending Review will be less severe for the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland than it will be for most Whitehall departments, the UK government claimed.
However, the Scottish Government argued that the cuts ‘went beyond our expectations’ while the Welsh Assembly Government described them as a ‘hammer blow to the people of Wales’.The Northern Ireland Executive said cuts of £4bn over four years were ‘worrying’ and a ‘real test’.
The Scottish and Welsh administrations repeated their previous claims that the cuts were ‘too fast and too deep’. Scottish finance minister John Swinney said a higher-than-expected fall of £800m in the capital budget threatened 12,000 jobs.
According to the Spending Review, revenue spending by each of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish administrations will be cut by 7% in real terms.
Capital spending in real terms will be reduced by 38% in Scotland, 41% in Wales and 37% in Northern Ireland.
The Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland Offices – the departments that represent the interests of the three devolved nations in the UK government – have been ordered to cut their budgets by 25% and develop shared services.
The Treasury said that, like other areas of the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were bearing a share of the cuts that had to be made in order to reduce the budget deficit. It added, though, that their reductions were smaller than those for most UK government departments.
Swinney said: ‘In its decision…the UK government made the wrong choices for Scotland and threatens to choke off the recovery that we are building.’
He said Scotland’s overall budget would fall by £1.3bn in cash terms in 2011-12.
Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones said Wales would play its role in reducing the deficit, but added: ‘The cuts are too fast and too deep.’
Northern Ireland’s finance minister Sammy Wilson said: ‘The coming years will be challenging enough – let us show the leadership required to ensure they aren’t made more difficult than necessary.’
