NICOLA Sturgeon has lashed out at the Westminster Government's "intolerable and unacceptable position" after it became clear that extra funding announced to help English businesses through the Covid crisis would not be reflected in Barnett consequentials for Scotland.
Instead, the Treasury has said that the £700 million handed to Holyrood earlier this month is all Scotland will be getting.
Finance Secretary Kate Forbes has previously outlined how this money is not just for business support, but for health, transport, "and a whole host of other things".
Forbes today said it was “unacceptable” that Chancellor Rishi Sunak had “written a blank cheque for business support grants in England, but refuses to do the same for Scotland”.
The First Minister echoed this position.
On Twitter, Sturgeon wrote: “The Chancellor has told @scotgov that today’s announcements won’t deliver any upfront extra cash for Scotland beyond the (welcome) £700m announced recently - & he won’t confirm the range of extra spending (beyond business support) that it’s expected to pay for or for how long.
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“Businesses in England have been given, rightly, an open-ended commitment to support for as long as needed. And @scotgov will be expected to match that for Scottish businesses - with no confirmation that the money will be there to pay for it (& no borrowing powers to raise it).
“It is an intolerable and unacceptable position - and deeply unfair to Scottish businesses who deserve the same open-ended commitment given to counterparts in England.”
Responding to the First Minister, Ian Blackford added: “This really is disgraceful. Yet again, the Tory Government’s rhetoric is detached from reality.
“Where is the money needed to save Scottish jobs and businesses?
“They won’t deliver the investment or devolve the powers required to protect people’s livelihoods.”
The news follows on from SNP calls yesterday for the Treasury to “urgently clarify” how extra funding for English local authorities placed into lockdown will impact on the consequential funding of the devolved governments.
The SNP’s shadow chancellor, Alison Thewliss, said: “As the Treasury sets out further funding for English councils that face restrictions, it is critical that it also urgently clarifies how that extra financial support will pass through in consequential funding to the devolved governments.
“Scotland must not be left out of pocket by the UK Government.
However, the Treasury told The National that there would not be any further funding.
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A spokesperson said: “Since the beginning of the pandemic the UK Government has provided billions of pounds of support both to the Scottish Government and directly to Scottish businesses and workers.
“As recently as October 9 we gave the Scottish Government an additional £700m to fund their efforts to respond to coronavirus, on top of £6.5 billion they were given in July.”
The Treasury said the money the Scottish Government had been given in July and October was for them to spend supporting the country however they chose.
The spokesperson said the Treasury thought this was preferable to working out the Barnett consequentials of every single scheme to be announced. Because of this decision, they said, there would not be any Barnett funding for Scotland as a result of further announcements from the UK Government.
There was reportedly a meeting between the Scottish and UK Government yesterday to discuss this, but the First Minister’s announcement has made it clear that Westminster’s position has not changed.
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