THE Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Finance made a big personal announcement recently – she is expecting her first child in the summer when she will make history by being the first Scottish Cabinet member to take maternity leave.

I am sure my constituents and readers of the Alloa Advertiser will join me in congratulating Kate and wishing her all the very best.

Kate also had big news for the rest of us. In putting forward the Scottish Bill in Parliament last week, she announced a further £290million in financial support to help address the rising cost of living.

Although the Scottish Government is still awaiting final confirmation from the Treasury on funding allocations, the £290m for Scotland announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer the previous week is not likely to mean net additional funding.

As is typical of this Tory Government, they are boastfully giving with one hand whilst sneakily taking away with the other.

But despite that and all the other budget pressures, I am proud that the Scottish Government will honour the commitment to allocate £290m to help tackle the cost of living crisis and are going further to ensure those hardest hit get the most support.

The vast bulk of the money – £280m – will provide £150 to every household in receipt of Council Tax Reduction in whatever Band and to provide £150 to all other occupied households in Bands A to D. This means that nearly 80 per cent of households in Clackmannanshire will receive this financial support.

The additional £10m will be used to continue the Fuel Insecurity Fund to help households facing fuel poverty.

People in my constituency – and across the country – are facing a soaring cost of living with particularly large rises in energy bills on top of increased costs on every day essentials

As ever, there is no doubt that additional costs will hit the most vulnerable in our society the hardest, which is why the Scottish Government is determined to do whatever it can, within the powers and resources available to it, to protect Scots from the worst ravages of Westminster.

That £290m package of additional support is one of many actions being taken to support people with the cost of living – steps such as doubling the Scottish Child Payment to £80 every four weeks from April and a £41m Winter Support Fund to help with heating and food costs.

Ironically, in the run up to the Scottish Budget, the Tories at Holyrood spent weeks promising more and more resources for police, fire and justice in general, as well as making demands for increased expenditure in all sorts of areas – without, of course, saying where that money might come from, then didn’t even bother to propose an amendment!

That just shows how empty their promises are and how pointless their posturing is and serves as a timely reminder to us all that the Tories in Scotland are in just as much of a mess as their colleagues at Westminster.