The Scottish Government has denied claims that £2.2bn will be drained from public services as a result of their budget decisions.

Labour leader Kezia Dugdale has warned that public services funding will be cut by 16 per cent. Ms Dugdale has also claimed that non-protected areas such as schools also face cuts of more than 16% by 2019/2020.

The Scottish Labour leader will highlight the research today as she calls on the SNP to back her party’s pledge to protect education spending in the next Scottish Parliament during a debate on the issue at Holyrood.

She said: “Scottish Labour has made a very clear commitment to protect education spending in real terms over the next five years.

"Faced with a choice between using the powers we have today to invest in our nation's future prosperity and cutting schools, we choose to use our powers. Today we put a very simple proposition before Parliament: no more cuts to education.”

“Nicola Sturgeon claims that education is her priority yet the hundreds of millions of pounds in cuts her budget will impose on schools and other public services exposes the reality.

"Under the SNP's plans, more than £2.2 billion could be stripped from Scotland's public services that the SNP refuse to protect in the next five years. That's a 16% cut.

"We cannot afford to cut our schools in that way. If we want to close the gap between the richest and the rest, and if we want to give every young person the skills they need to grow our economy and succeed, we need to invest in our schools.

"Nicola Sturgeon should ditch her plans to cut education spending and back Labour's pledge."

However, Deputy First Minister John Swinney has dismissed Labour’s figures as ‘a complete work of fiction’.

Mr Swinney said: "These figures from Labour are a complete work of fiction - given that we haven't set any tax or spending plans beyond next year, there is absolutely nothing to substantiate their claims about a cut to education spending.

"Labour have made the elementary mistake of confusing a technical budget adjustment for a real cash sum that simply doesn't exist. There is no actual cut of £126.5 million to the frontline - simply a change to accounting provisions. Ignoring this adjustment, funding for education has in fact increased by over 1% in cash terms.

"At the same time, the latest figures suggest that - far from falling - education spending by councils is set to increase by 3.3% this year.”

Scottish Labour has already put unveiled proposals to introduce a 1p rise to the basic rate of income tax, which the party claim will generate an extra £500m for education.

It has also called on Holyrood to set a 50p top tax rate, with proceeds being used to establish a Fair Start Fund that would invest £1,000 in primary schools for every child from a deprived background.

Mr Swinney said: "The SNP is committed to a fairer tax system, and we'll set out how we will use the new powers in the Scotland Bill in our manifesto. But one thing we certainly won't be doing is forcing people on low incomes to pay for Tory austerity twice by supporting Labour's tax grab."