Pre-Budget warning for John Swinney as joblessness races ahead

Published on Tuesday 16 November 2010 16:02

TRADE union leaders have warned that Scotland will be scarred by "high unemployment" unless finance secretary John Swinney puts job creation at the heart of the Scottish Government's spending plans when he unveils his Budget today.

• John Swinney will deliver his Budget today

Mr Swinney will outline his Budget for 2011-12 this afternoon as the latest jobless figures are expected to show unemployment rising faster in Scotland than in any other part of the UK.

The finance secretary is expected to announce a pay freeze for public-sector workers earning more than 21,000 a year from next April, saying it will save 10,000 jobs.

Mr Swinney's Budget comes after health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon announced an end to a bonus scheme for NHS consultants, in a move that the SNP government says will save 2 million for frontline services.

• The Steamie: Has Ireland ruined John Swinney's big day?

But STUC general secretary Grahame Smith called on Mr Swinney to use today's Budget to help Scotland's unemployed, after official figures last month showed that in the three months to the end of August, 13,000 more Scots were looking for work, taking the jobless toll north of the Border to 231,000.

The finance secretary was urged to take action to boost job- creation schemes in Scotland as the country's unemployment continues to soar - while across the UK it fell by 20,000 according to last month's figures.

Mr Smith said: "It is essential that government at all levels acts now to prevent a repeat of the mistakes of past recessions.

"Starting with today's Scottish Budget, the key policy priorities must be to maximise job creation and to provide effective assistance to the unemployed."

Mr Swinney has also come under pressure from opposition parties to take action over the jobless figures, with Labour's finance spokesman Andy Kerr demanding measures in today's Budget to deal with Scotland's youth unemployment "crisis".

• Pay freeze and job losses: Parliament to tighten belt with 10m cut in costs

Mr Kerr said: "Finance secretary John Swinney will be letting Scotland down if he only comes forward with a one-year stop-gap budget. It might be good politics for the SNP to put off difficult choices until after the election, but it is bad government.

"I want to see ministers announce a three-year spending review that includes support for a Scottish Future Jobs Fund.

"A Labour government in Scotland would do everything in its power to prevent another generation from being thrown on the scrapheap."

The Scottish Government claimed today's Budget would protect thousands of jobs and called for greater powers for Holyrood to allow the administration to "boost growth and employment".A government spokesman said: "We are using the powers we currently have to the limit in order to safeguard recovery - including actions through our budget bill to freeze the council tax and protect household incomes from the worst impact of Westminster cuts, as part of a 'social contract' with the people to save 10,000 jobs through pay restraint.

"The UK government's 1.3 billion cut in our budget underlines the urgent need for Scotland to secure economic powers and financial responsibility, so that the Scottish Government and parliament have all the tools needed to boost growth and employment."

Meanwhile, a leading official of the local government body Cosla raised concerns at the Scottish Parliament's finance committee yesterday about the Budget just covering just one year. Sarah Fortune, Cosla's policy manager for finance, said that "for good financial planning, a one-year budget causes difficulties for councils".