Scotland's SNP government was on the brink tonight after MSPs rejected the country's £33bn budget.
Scotland's SNP government was on the brink tonight after MSPs rejected the country's £33bn budget.
The budget was rejected by the parliament after a vote by MSPs was tied at 64/64 and Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson cast his deciding vote against the spending plans.
The rejection came despite finance secretary John Swinney making two multi-million pound pledges in a last-minute bid to secure Holyrood support for its budget.
After the vote Mr Swinney said the government planned to bring forward a revised Budget Bill "at the earliest possible opportunity - and certainly within a matter of days".
He told MSPs: "In light of the vote that has just taken place, and the serious position in which this leaves Scotland, the Scottish Government will not delay in seeking to resolve the budget issues for next year."
During the debate Labour's Jackie Baillie said the SNP administration would still have time to bring forward another set of proposals.
A budget could come into force on April 1 provided that a bill was passed by February 14, she said.
However failure to pass a budget by then would mean that spending can only continue at the level set out in the 2008/9.
Mr Swinney made an impassioned address to the chamber pleading with the politicians not to reject the bill and warned MSPs of the consequences if they rejected the budget.
He had promised a £60 million town centre regeneration fund, of the type demanded by the Tories as a condition for backing his budget.
He also promised a £22 million package of home insulation measures, in a bid to woo the Greens - who have demanded a £100 million a year package for 10 years.
Mr Swinney disclosed the concessions in a speech in which he warned MSPs it was "vital" that Holyrood passed the £33 billion budget.
"The latest Scottish GDP statistics this morning give the clearest indication yet that Scotland is already in a serious recession," he said.
"At a time of such economic difficulty, we need to get every penny of public resources into the economy as quickly as possible.
"If Parliament does not support this budget, public spending in 2009-10 will be £1.8 billion lower than this government proposes that it should be.
"That would mean around £600 million less in spending for health and wellbeing, and around £640 million less for local government."
Scotland would also miss out on the accelerated spending which the opposition had been demanding - a "crippling" impact on jobs and services.
