THE SCOTTISH Government is yet to spend a quarter of the funds allocated for the Brexit transition, it has emerged.
A senior civil servant told a Westminster Committee this morning that £48m of the £200m provided for 'Brexit readiness' had not been spent by Holyrood.
Alex Chisholm, Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office, was asked by Tory MP Sir Bernard Jenkin at the Public Accounts Committee how much the Scottish Government had been given to prepare for leaving the EU.
He responded: "The figure is in the order of about £200 million and that's going back to 2017.
"I think around about £48 or £49million remain to be spent this year."
Mr Jenkin said: "So they under spent on Brexit preparedness.
"What evidence is there that the Scottish Government has given the UK taxpayer value for money for what they have spent?"
READ MORE: Michael Gove calls on SNP Government to outline how it has spent Brexit money
Mr Chisholm replied that it was up to the Scottish Government to decide what it spent its money on, adding: "Well the decisions on how they spend that money is a matter for the Scottish Government and they are obviously accountable for that. "I can confirm that the full Barnett formula has been applied and they have been given a proportionate amount of funding.
"There was also an additional £20 million was also granted last year on a kind of emergency operational basis in support of no deal type preparations."
Mr Chisholm was asked why he thought there had been an "underspend" given the difficulties there have been following the end of the transition period, particularly around the export of some food products such as fish.
He said: "I'm not sure which parts of that would would would really be fully described as underspend and which would be carried over but obviously I would expect that if there was an agreement for it to be carried over that the UK Treasury were happy that that was probably going to be needed this year to help with the additional work that needs to be done."
The Scottish Conservatives said that SNP ministers were "manufacturing grievances" about funding following Mr Chisholm's comments.
Tory economy spokesman Maurice Golden MSP, said: “A senior civil servant has revealed that around £50 million is sitting there waiting to be spent, despite the SNP claiming they’ve already used this money.
"While SNP ministers like Kate Forbes are trying to manufacture funding grievances with the UK Government, they’re not getting Brexit funding and business funding out the door quickly enough.
"Instead of doing whatever they can to help Scottish exports through this transition period, the SNP are leaving cash unspent and not lifting a finger."
The Scottish Government said the Tory claims were "untrue" and added that money was not an "underspend".
A spokesman said: "These claims are wrong – this money was allocated to the Scottish Government’s 2020/21 budget, and so is not an underspend nor was it carried forward from previous years."
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