Nicola Sturgeon has ruled out cutting funding for a second Independence referendum.
The First Minister said that she intends to hold a vote next year and that money had already been allocated to the breakway poll.
The millions needed will stay in place despite growing pressure on the Scottish budget to provide measures to alleviate the cost-of-living crisis and rising costs through inflation.
Appearing on BBC Breakfast this morning, Ms Sturgeon was asked if the budget to prepare for another independence referendum – for which around £20 million has been set aside – will be cut in order to support people further with the cost-of-living crisis.
“We’re talking about this financial year and the independence referendum, I hope, will be in the next financial year,” she said.
“So even if we did, which we’re not going to because I was elected as first minister on a commitment to democracy…
“I was elected with a record share of the vote in the Scottish Parliament elections last year on a record turnout. So. we’re going to deliver on that commitment to people.”
Governments across the UK are facing acute spending pressures, and budgets are likely to be further strained if Liz Truss pushes ahead with mooted cuts.
READ MORE: Rise in Scottish patients enduring extreme A&E waits
Ms Sturgeon was also challenged on the pressures facing NHS Scotland, where waiting times have reached record levels.
The Scottish Government has unveiled a £600m funding package to recruit more staff, but services are badly stretched.
The First Minister said winter within the NHS is “likely to be extremely difficult”.
She said: “We don’t know what will happen in terms of Covid circulation but should prepare for that to be challenging, similarly with flu.
“One of the key messages to people is: please, if you’re eligible, to make sure you get your Covid and flu vaccinations.”
Ms Sturgeon was asked if there would be pictures of ambulances queued outside accident and emergency departments again.
She replied: “We’re working really hard through investment into our NHS, trying to recruit more staff into our NHS.
“The challenges facing our NHS just now are considerable.
“These are big big challenges for governments everywhere.
“We have difficulties with accident and emergency waiting times, and we are working to reduce these.
“They are the best-performing anywhere in the UK.
“In the last few months we have been very successful at reducing the longest waiting times.”
In a separate interview later, Ms Sturgeon said the performance of the NHS in Scotland is “not good enough”, but is better than in other parts of the UK.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “In accident and emergency… the performance is not good enough, but they’re performing better than in England, Wales and in Northern Ireland.
“In many areas of our health service, the challenges are there in Scotland, but because of our investment, because of the support, because of the reforms we are undertaking in Scotland, that performance, relatively speaking, is better than any other part of the UK.
READ MORE: The Scottish NHS is collapsing ... but are doctors right in blaming the SNP?
“We are continuing to take the steps to build the capacity of the health service and to help us take these measures.
“We need to change the way healthcare is delivered to make sure it’s there for people in the right place at the right time when they need it.
“Social care is a significant part of this because some of the pressures in the NHS, delayed discharges, for example, come from challenges in the social care sector. One of the most significant reforms we’re taking forward in Scotland is the building of a National Care Service, to build capacity in that part of the system.”
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