06 February 2009
By David Scott in Edinburgh
The Scottish Government's £33bn budget has received the overwhelming backing of MSPs just a week after it was rejected by a single vote.
When a revised spending plan was debated on February 4, only the Parliament's two Green MSPs voted against.
The vote of 123—2 was a huge turnaround on the position last week when, after a tied vote of 64—64, presiding officer Alex Fergusson gave his casting vote in favour of the status quo, which meant the budget was rejected.
First Minister Alex Salmond warned that if the budget was defeated at a second attempt he would resign and force an election. After a week of intense negotiations, the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties, which had voted against the budget, backed the revised version, which was fast-tracked through the Parliament.
Finance Secretary John Swinney said that in the seven days since the budget had been rejected, 'we have seen real and substantial co-operation across the political spectrum'.
He added: 'Parliament has focused on delivering a budget for economic recovery… we have demonstrated that, when necessary, government and opposition can find common ground.'
But the finance minister failed to win the co-operation of the two Greens who were seen as principally responsible for last week's defeat.
Green MSP Patrick Harvey claimed Swinney had offered the party a worse deal than last week's proposed £22m package for a free home insulation scheme. 'What we have is an inadequate response to the economic and ecological crisis in Scotland,' he added.
Labour backed the revised plan after Swinney agreed to provide almost 8,000 extra apprenticeships for each of the next two years.
The Liberal Democrats accepted a package that included a public spending review. The government also agreed to end its resistance to co-operating with the Calman Commission on devolution. The SNP will now make a submission to the commission on borrowing powers for the Parliament.
PFfeb2009
