Scottish Government as bad as Tories on finances, says chancellor Rachel Reeves

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said the Scottish Government is “as guilty” as the previous Tory government on the country’s finances.

The Chancellor was speaking during a visit to the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland near Renfrew, Renfrewshire, on Wednesday.

Experts at the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) said on Tuesday that Scottish ministers may struggle to balance the country’s budget due to above-expectation public sector pay deals, the council tax freeze and benefit reforms, as well as uncertainty about the level of funding coming from Westminster.

While the Scottish Government has attacked decisions made at Westminster for the country’s financial strife, the Chancellor used her visit north of the border to hit back.

“The SNP Government is as guilty as the Conservative government of spending more than they were bringing in, and now the Scottish Government are having to make difficult decisions,” she said.

“Anas Sarwar and the Labour opposition in Scotland were warning the SNP about the unsustainable position they were in.

“They SNP refused to listen, they made decisions that were not sustainable and now it is Scottish people who are paying the price for the decisions of the Scottish Government.”

Responding to the Chancellor’s comments, First Minister John Swinney told the PA news agency during a visit to Stirling: “The Scottish Government has balanced its budget for every single year – we have lived within the resources available to us.

“The problem we’ve got is that the UK Government has not faced up to the reality of the pressures and the issues that have faced our public finances.

“I was warning throughout the election that there was a cumulative problem arising out of high inflation and the pay claims that had been settled, that we were facing enormous pressure within our budget.

“I was told by the Labour Party there was nothing to worry about and there will be no austerity – yet here is the Labour Party inflicting austerity on the people of Scotland.”

The Chancellor met the First Minister in Glasgow later on Wednesday, where the two shook hands before attending a formal meeting.

Reeves’s comments come after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer warned of a “painful” budget coming in October in a major speech from the Downing Street rose garden, where he asked Britons to “accept short-term pain for long-term good”.

Reacting to the SFC report, Scottish Finance Secretary Shona Robison said the country faces the “most challenging financial situation since devolution” following Ms Reeves’s Commons statement last month in which she revealed a £22 billion black hole in the UK’s finances.

Robison went on to say decisions made by the UK Government will “fundamentally damage our ability to deliver public services in Scotland”.