Cole-Hamilton: SNP need to ‘move mountains’ for Lib Dems to back Scottish Budget

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton will warn SNP ministers they will “have to move mountains” to persuade his party to back the budget.

Cole-Hamilton will say that while his party would try to find “common ground” with the Scottish Government over its tax and spending plans for next year, a change of administration at Holyrood is what is “truly” needed.

With Scottish Parliament elections due to take place in 2026, he will tell the Scottish Liberal Democrat party conference that they are “surging forward”.

Party supporters are gathering in Perth on Saturday, with their conference taking place after this summer’s general election saw the Liberal Democrats win 72 seats across the UK, with two new Scottish MPs taking their tally of MPs from north of the border to six.

Saying that the Scottish Parliament election will be “here before we know it”, Cole-Hamilton will claim that the “country is taking us seriously again” after the result of the Westminster vote.

Addressing the conference, Cole-Hamilton will tell supporters: “Make no mistake, we are on the up and Scotland needs strong liberal voices more than ever.”

He will say that is because “for so many life is getting harder” accusing SNP ministers of having made “brutal cuts to vital budgets because they have mismanaged our nation’s finances over the entirety of their time in government”.

Hitting out at the Scottish Government, Cole-Hamilton will say: “This year alone they have cut the housing budget in the middle of a housing emergency.

“Cut the mental health budget during a mental health crisis.

“And they have cut the drug and alcohol budget while Scotland’s drug mortality remains among the worst in the world.

“These decisions are harming the people of Scotland and the SNP have only themselves to blame.”

The Scottish budget, due to be unveiled by Finance Secretary Shona Robison on December 4, could “make a difference to all of this,” he will add.

With the minority SNP Government needing to find support from at least one other party to get its budget through Holyrood, Cole-Hamilton will pledge: “In a Parliament of minorities, we will always act like grown-ups and seek consensus where we can.

“It’s why each year we engage in meaningful talks with the Government to try to find common ground and improve the lot of our communities in the pages of the budget.”

While he will say he wants to see a Government spending plan “that actually works for the people we serve”, the Liberal Democrat will add: “We are a long way from that and they will have to move mountains to persuade us.

“Because we know how badly broken things are.

“We know the scale of the reform that’s needed.

“And in our heart of hearts, we know the only thing that will truly bring about the change that Scotland needs is a change of government.”