SNP blames Westminster for ‘new era of austerity’

Scotland is facing a “new era of austerity”, Shona Robison has warned as she prepares to announce up to £600 million spending cuts on Tuesday.
The finance secretary will seek to blame Westminster politicians for the financial crisis by invoking past prime ministers before turning her fire on Rachel Reeves, the Labour chancellor.
However, the Scottish Fiscal Commission, the independent forecaster, largely blames Scottish government decisions for public spending pressures.
The commission said it was “uncertain” how much additional money might come from the UK once Labour set out its budget on October 30.
Above-inflation public-sector pay deals have been cited by ministers as another reason for the squeeze and it is unclear how these will be funded in England by the Treasury, This has created uncertainty for SNP ministers.
Before her statement, the parents of disabled children told Robison not to cut “lifeline” support. Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Scotland said it faced a 22 per cent cut in Scottish government funding this year.
Elenor Leckie, whose 11-year-old daughter, Gemma, has spina bifida and hydrocephalus, said: “When you have a disabled child, it seems as if you are fighting for everything. You are always having to fight to get something that’s easily accessible to most people. SBH Scotland is a lifeline for parents. I don’t know what I would have done without the charity.”
Liz Kendall, the UK work and pensions secretary, announced an extension to the household support fund in England on Monday. Westminster sources said this would result in about £40 million for Holyrood’s budget because of the Barnett spending formula by which devolved budgets are calculated.
Graeme Downie, the Labour MP for Dunfermline & Dollar, said it showed his party was “delivering extra funding for Scotland to tackle poverty this winter”, adding: “The SNP must use this funding for what it is intended for and not fritter it away as they have done with so much public money over the 17 years they have been in power in Scotland.”
Scottish ministers have already announced a series of spending cuts as part of emergency savings, including making winter fuel payments means-tested, bringing back peak rail fares, scrapping free bus travel for asylum seekers and redirecting money towards local authority pay awards.
Robison said that measures including income tax rises had been brought in to invest more in public services. “But the fact is, the Scottish government operates with a largely fixed budget determined by Westminster and, under the Labour government, it is clear that we are entering a whole new era of austerity,” she said.
“The cuts they are proposing to make will have a profound effect on our ability to deliver for the people of Scotland — but [the] SNP government will do everything we can to protect people and public services from the cuts that Westminster is making to our budget.”
She said that if Scotland was independent it “would not be paying the price for bad decisions taken at Westminster, whether that be years of austerity cuts, Brexit, or reckless mini-budgets”.
After Robison’s grim assessment of public finances, John Swinney, the first minister, will announce his first programme for government on Wednesday.
He told the BBC this would include plans to grow the economy, deliver net-zero and eradicate child poverty despite a “challenging financial backdrop”.