A MAJORITY of MSPs have backed calls for Holyrood to be given more time to scrutinise the SNP's budget.
Concern has been raised that spending plans, the most important and complex in the devolved legislature's history due to the inclusion of new tax powers, are being railroaded through as a result of delays.
The Scottish Government has insisted that it has been forced to wait until after the UK Government's Autumn Statement to reveal its proposals, so that it knows how much it will have to spend.
Read more: Former SNP minister calls of long-term revaluation of properties
However, a refusal to outline preliminary proposals, after previously indicating that they would be released have sparked anger from backbenchers. Holyrood's finance committee recently writing to Derek Mackay stating that a lack of scenario planning information was "unacceptable".
MSP Patrick Harvie has seen a Holyrood motion, urging the Scottish Government to put the planning information into the public domain by October 23, supported by 64 other MSPs. A debate over the issue will take place today.
The Green co-convenor said: "The Finance Committee and all opposition parties understand the Government’s difficulty, as it waits for the UK’s autumn budget statement and the Chancellor’s 'fiscal reset'. We have gone to great lengths to give the Government other options, including publishing scenario plans. We were pleased at Derek Mackay’s commitment to do that, and the reversal of that position is clearly unacceptable.
"We could have forced the issue to a vote in the Chamber, but this isn’t about inflicting a defeat for the sake of it. We want to make it clear to the Government that they must provide the information we’ve asked for. I hope that Mr Mackay takes Tuesday’s debate as an opportunity to work with us.
Read more: Former SNP minister calls of long-term revaluation of properties
"The public expects MSPs to scrutinise the Scottish Government's spending plans. If Ministers stick to their timetable of only publishing a draft budget just before Christmas, we will be prevented from serving the public properly."
The draft budget is normally published in September, but is being delayed till December, with warnings MSPs will have just two weeks to examine it.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "Following the Brexit vote and the Chancellor’s announcement that he will reset the UK Government’s financial plans, as well as the impact that will have on the forecasts we rely on to set the overall size of the Scottish budget, it is only right that the Scottish Government waits for clarity on how much money we will have available to fund next year’s budget.
Read more: Former SNP minister calls of long-term revaluation of properties
"We welcome the agreement of the Finance committee to the budget timetable we have proposed and will be making available as much information as we can to support budget scrutiny."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel