Extra £820m for Scottish Government announced in UK Budget

The chancellor has announced an extra £820m for the Scottish Government as part of the UK Budget.

Rachel Reeves unveiled her second, much-anticipated UK budget in the House of Commons on Wednesday, which contained a raft of tax and spending changes.

She said the money will come from Barnett consequentials for Scotland over the current spending review period.

She also mentioned a £14m investment in low-carbon technology at Grangemouth, where an oil refinery closed earlier this year, as well as £20m to renew infrastructure at Inverclyde’s Inchgreen Marine Park facilities and £20m to redevelop Kirkcaldy town centre and seafront, with construction set to start next year.

Politics

Two-child benefit cap scrapped and taxes hiked in UK Budget

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has outlined a host of changes to taxes and spending.

“The benefits of investment and growth must be built, and felt, in every part of our United Kingdom,” the chancellor said.

“We are providing an additional £370m for the Northern Ireland Executive, £505m for the Welsh Government and £820m for the Scottish Government over the spending review period through the Barnett formula.”

She continued: “In Scotland, I’m committing over £14 million for low-carbon technologies in Grangemouth, £20 million to renew infrastructure at Inchgreen in Inverclyde, and £20 million to redevelop Kirkcaldy town centre and seafront, with construction starting next year.

At-a-glance

What does Rachel Reeves’ Budget mean for Scotland?

Reeves has set out details of her second Budget since becoming Chancellor.

“That’s on top of the UK’s biggest-ever warship export deal with the Norwegian government to build frigates in Glasgow, supporting 4,000 jobs – investment opposed by the SNP, jobs opposed by the SNP, defence opposed by the SNP, but secured by this Labour Government.”

However, the SNP have slammed it as Keir Starmer and Reeves’ “last budget”.

The party said Wednesday’s announcement confirmed the chancellor’s “disastrous mismanagement” of the UK economy.

“They promised change but have delivered complete chaos, higher energy bills, higher food prices and a soaring cost of living – it’s no wonder their own MPs are now plotting to get rid of them,” SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said.

“Yet again, families are being forced to pay the price for Labour Party failure with billions of pounds of cuts, tax hikes and rising costs hammering households and public services.”

Reeves’ budget scrapped the two-child benefit cap, announced that the 5p cut in fuel duty will be frozen until September 2026 when it will be reversed through a staggered approach, cut the annual Cash ISA allowance from the current £20,000 to £12,000 per tax year for under-65s from April 2027, and froze income tax thresholds south of the border for a further three years.

Flynn warned that there is a “real danger” that the so-called “anti-growth measures” in Reeves’ budget will extend the UK’s doom loop and “lead to another crisis budget next year”.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has praised the budget for bringing wages up and pushing energy bills and child poverty down.

“I demanded a Labour budget rooted in Labour values, and that is what the Chancellor has delivered today,” Sarwar said.

“This budget means child poverty down, energy bills down, wages up and austerity rejected.

“Thousands of Scottish children lifted out of poverty, £150 off energy bills, £300 for those most in need, increases in the living wage and £820m extra for the Scottish Government.

“That means £10.3bn of additional resources has gone to the Scottish Government since Labour came to power, but we can’t have this opportunity squandered by the failing, incompetent and wasteful SNP.”