Scottish Budget

It is budget day in Scotland. The politicians are haggling over a few tweaks to what is by any standards a tight settlement. The UK Government is tightening their budgets too soon in the economic cycle and the Scottish Government is making some poor allocation decisions, particularly the Council Tax and business rates freeze.

But the real story is outwith the Scottish budget. The demands on public authorities, particularly councils are growing much faster than the modest national allocations. This means all public authorities are planning budget cuts way in excess of the Scottish budget allocations. That means cuts in services, jobs and the consequential impact on the Scottish economy. As we have said in our response - it looks like a triple whammy for the people of Scotland.