By David Scott in Edinburgh
10 February 2011
The minority Scottish Government’s £33bn budget has been approved by MSPs following last-ditch negotiations with opposition parties.
The budget Bill was debated in the 129-member Parliament on February 9. Labour, the largest of the rival parties, voted against but the Bill was passed with the support of the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives.
Talks between Scottish National Party Finance Secretary John Swinney and his political opponents continued until just hours before the budget meeting. LibDem and Tory MSPs said they had won key concessions, which enabled them to guarantee their support.
The LibDems gained an extra £15m for college bursaries for poorer students, extra places for students, additional money to create more apprenticeships and funding support for local post offices.
Concessions gained by the Tories included initiatives to create more jobs and a further £16m for a housing generation programme, which they believe will help the economy and people on housing waiting lists.
While Swinney offered to meet a number of Labour’s requests on jobs and the economy, finance spokesman Andy Kerr said he had not gone far enough. ‘Our sincere view is that the finance secretary has made the wrong choices,’ he told the Parliament.
But the finance secretary said the government had listened to the calls that others had made and had responded in the spirit of building consensus across the chamber.
He said: ‘I believe we have prepared a budget that best meets the needs of the people of Scotland.’
The new budget represents a spending cut of £1.3bn following a reduction in Holyrood’s grant from the UK government.
A large proportion of the savings will be achieved by a public sector pay freeze, a 3% efficiency savings target and a cut in local government funding.
LibDem finance spokesman Jeremy Purvis said his party had achieved significant progress on jobs and support for students.
Tory finance spokesman Derek Brownlee said: ‘This budget is a compromise and it is the better for that.’
The budget, the last before the parliamentary election in May, was passed by 79 votes to 48.
