NICOLA Sturgeon has repeated her threat to block Holyrood's new powers after a leading economist warned the deal could cost Scotland hundreds of millions of pounds.
Speaking during First Minister's Questions, she welcomed comments by Professor Anton Muscatelli, who said the financial deal underpinning the new Scotland Bill could "penalise" Holyrood.
Prof Muscatelli, the principal of Glasgow University, argued the so-called 'fiscal framework' was "arguably more important" than the package of new tax and welfare powers the legislation will devolve.
Writing in The Herald, he said: "The clear demand for more powers cannot come at any price."
His remarks followed a similar warning from the Scottish Trades Union Congress, which warned the new powers could become a "poisoned chalice" if the financial deal was unsatisfactory.
Ms Sturgeon said Professor Muscatelli and Grahame Smith, the general secretary of the STUC, were "credible, independent voices that should be listened to".
She told MSPs: "We will only support a legislative consent motion on the Scotland Bill if there is a satisfactory and fair fiscal framework agreed between the Scottish and UK governments.
"Nobody could reasonably expect any government to say anything else."
The Scotland Bill, which has passed through the House of Commons, will give Holyrood control over income tax and a £2.5billion welfare budget.
Talks over the fiscal framework are continuing.
The deal was due to have been concluded this autumn but the two governments have been unable to agree on the mechanism for cutting Scotland's budget when its new tax-raising powers come into force.
Although Westminster legislation, the Scotland Bill must be rubber-stamped at Holyrood.
If MSPs refuse, it would block the new powers indefinitely.
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