MORE than 40 capital projects, from hospitals and colleges to road improvements, could go ahead within a year if George Osborne gives the go-ahead and calls a halt to austerity measures in next week's autumn statement, the Scottish Finance Secretary has claimed.
John Swinney's plea for the right to spend £800 million on capital spending comes as the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warned Mr Osborne he may have to extend his cuts until 2018 and find another £11 billion from cuts or tax rises on top of the further £8bn reduction in welfare spending already mooted.
Having initially planned to eliminate the structural deficit by 2015, the Chancellor has signalled more real-terms cuts of 2.3% in Whitehall spending up to 2016/17 and £8bn cuts to the benefits bill.
The "relatively pessimistic" scenario from the IFS sees the recent deterioration in growth prospects and tax receipts turning out to be permanent, forcing the Chancellor to announce more bad news for British taxpayers if he is to hit his "fiscal mandate".
But Mr Swinney has written to Downing Street demanding a targeted boost to capital investment. His list features transport, regeneration and further education projects, including an upgrade of the A68 Pathhead-to-Tynehead junction in Midlothian and work on hospital units.
The 43 projects require £820.8m, Mr Swinney said, adding: "Scotland's budget for construction and maintenance projects is being cut by 33% by the UK Coalition Government in a failed attempt to reduce public-sector borrowing, and while we are investing what we can in economic recovery in Scotland, there is much more to do.
"Too many households are still struggling and too many people find themselves out of work. I have asked the Chancellor to significantly increase Scotland's level of capital investment in his autumn statement to boost our future prosperity. This would provide much-needed work to the Scottish construction sector and boost local economies."
He added: "The Scottish Government is doing all it can within its current powers. We have set out further investment in construction, skills and the green economy in our draft budget. Only last month we announced details of an additional £40m of investment for affordable housing."
l The Bank of England could name its new governor this week amid reported Government pressure to appoint a successor to Sir Mervyn King. Sir Mervyn has just over seven months to run before his second term ends on June 30.
It is claimed the Tory-LibDem Coalition is keen for the bank to announce its new boss before Mr Osborne's autumn statement on December 5
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