Swinney: SNP's success forced tax 'cave in' – but don't forget the oil

Published on Friday 5 September 2008 23:00

JUBILANT SNP ministers yesterday accused Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, of caving in to pressure over granting Scotland greater fiscal autonomy.

But they warned that any discussions on the issue must include Scotland's North Sea oil revenue.

The reaction was part of the fallout from Mr Brown's speech to the Scottish CBI in Glasgow on Thursday, in which he accepted for the first time that devolution meant the Scottish Parliament needed to have some powers over how much money it raised.

Yesterday, there was still confusion over what Mr Brown meant and whether this may mean new tax-raising powers, but John Swinney, the finance secretary, claimed it was a result of the SNP's success in government and the recent Glasgow East by-election.

"Here we are a year later, Gordon Brown has caved in to pressure from the SNP and rising support for the SNP, based on the aspirations of the people of this country," he said. "I'm immensely encouraged that we are now going to be in a situation where we will have a Scottish Parliament – in whatever scenario that develops – that will have more financial powers."

Mr Swinney added that if Scotland was given all the revenue raised in the country, including North Sea oil money, the recent Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) report showed it would receive more money.

But the UK government was clear that this was not a change of heart by Mr Brown.

A Whitehall source pointed out that Mr Brown had been instrumental in setting up the Calman Commission and his statement was merely his continued support for its work.

"This was an affirmation that he is behind the Calman Commission's work and its efforts to make the devolution settlement irreversible in terms of Scotland's position in the UK and independence," he said.

The Calman Commission, which is looking at the devolution settlement, is due to hold its first public meeting in Glasgow on Wednesday in a tour of the country to

gather ideas on how devolution can be improved.