By David Scott
1 October 2009
An influential think-tank has challenged the Scottish Government’s claim that its top priority is tacking the recession and the economy.
The Centre for Public Policy and Regions also argued that Finance Secretary John Swinney had put off the tough decisions needed to cut his £34.6bn draft budget.
In an assessment of the budget, the Glasgow University-based think-tank claimed there was little extra funding for business support. It said Swinney had prioritised health, allocating an extra £187m for the service.
According to the analysis, the main cuts to capital and current spending were in areas most often associated with the economy, with ‘substantial falls’ for capital investment programmes such as housing, transport, regeneration and enterprise agencies.
CPPR director Richard Harris said: ‘Given the relative allocation of spending from enterprise and infrastructure to health, it is hard to see how the draft budget is consistent with an economic recovery plan.’
The CPPR calculated that the budget was 0.7% less in real terms than this year.
Jo Armstrong, a leading economist who was involved in the study, said the Scottish Government had delayed making difficult decisions.
She added: ‘Whilst supporting productive jobs during a recession may be defensible, the 2010/11
draft budget has simply delayed making the much more difficult decisions of where to accommodate year-on-year real-terms reductions in spending that face Scotland’s government in the coming years.’
A government spokesman said the draft budget protected services, supported employment and boosted recovery. ‘The Scottish Government’s recovery plan is supporting 15,000 jobs,’ the spokesman stressed.
1 October 2009
An influential think-tank has challenged the Scottish Government’s claim that its top priority is tacking the recession and the economy.
The Centre for Public Policy and Regions also argued that Finance Secretary John Swinney had put off the tough decisions needed to cut his £34.6bn draft budget.
In an assessment of the budget, the Glasgow University-based think-tank claimed there was little extra funding for business support. It said Swinney had prioritised health, allocating an extra £187m for the service.
According to the analysis, the main cuts to capital and current spending were in areas most often associated with the economy, with ‘substantial falls’ for capital investment programmes such as housing, transport, regeneration and enterprise agencies.
CPPR director Richard Harris said: ‘Given the relative allocation of spending from enterprise and infrastructure to health, it is hard to see how the draft budget is consistent with an economic recovery plan.’
The CPPR calculated that the budget was 0.7% less in real terms than this year.
Jo Armstrong, a leading economist who was involved in the study, said the Scottish Government had delayed making difficult decisions.
She added: ‘Whilst supporting productive jobs during a recession may be defensible, the 2010/11
draft budget has simply delayed making the much more difficult decisions of where to accommodate year-on-year real-terms reductions in spending that face Scotland’s government in the coming years.’
A government spokesman said the draft budget protected services, supported employment and boosted recovery. ‘The Scottish Government’s recovery plan is supporting 15,000 jobs,’ the spokesman stressed.
