SNP all smiles as they secure near-unanimous Budget backing, just 7 days after plans thrown out

Published on Thursday 5 February 2009 00:31

A DELIGHTED Alex Salmond got his battered Budget through the Scottish Parliament yesterday, securing the support of all his opponents except the Greens – who appeared to have been punished for scuppering the plans last week.

SNP ministers celebrated last night after the Budget was approved by every MSP in the chamber except the two Greens, who voted against it as they had done the week before.

The 123-2 margin of victory came as no surprise as Labour and the Liberal Democrats had said they would back the Budget in return for a series of new concessions.

As the Conservatives and Margo MacDonald, the independent MSP, were already on board, only the Greens were left on the outside. However, having got the support to get the Budget through, SNP ministers then appeared to punish Patrick Harvie and Robin Harper, the Green MSPs, for defeating the bill last week, deciding to offer them even less than they had the week before.

The Greens had demanded a free, universal home insulation package of up to 100 million a year. Last week, they were offered 33 million, 22 million of which was to come from Scottish Government funds and 11 million from councils and housing associations.

However, after John Swinney, the finance secretary, secured the support of the Lib Dems and Labour, he lowered this offer, telling the Greens they would only get 15 million of government cash for the insulation scheme and 15 million from councils and housing bodies.

Crucially, he also told the Greens the scheme would not be free and universal, but would be means-tested. As this was a worse offer than he had been given the week before, Mr Harvie, the Greens' co-convener, felt he had no choice but to oppose the Budget.

"It's no surprise to me that the Greens remain the only party standing up for a vision of a sustainable future," he said.

Labour had initially demanded 7,800 new apprentices each year for the next three years. Last week, the party was offered what it wanted, but only for one year, not three. This was not good enough for Labour, so the party voted against the Budget. Yesterday, though, having secured other minor concessions around the edge of this same one-year pledge, Labour decided to back the Budget.

One of the changes was a commitment that the apprentices would remain in training even if their employers went bust.

Mr Swinney found the 16 million to create the apprentice places partly from resources that had been earmarked for the Greens' insulation scheme.

Iain Gray, the Labour leader, insisted that he had not merely accepted the same deal he had rejected the week before.

"If you are asking did we compromise, yes we have compromised, but we believe we have done it in the best interests of Scotland," he said.

Andy Kerr, Labour's finance spokesman, said Mr Swinney had made "important and substantial changes" to the Budget.

He said: "As a result of Labour discussion and Labour negotiation, there will be those extra 7,800 Scots who have the opportunity to take up an apprenticeship."

Mr Swinney said afterwards that he was pleased to have got his Budget through at last.

"Obviously, I am delighted that the government's Budget has had such an emphatic endorsement by the parliament," he said.

The finance secretary said he believed that the Budget was the correct one to help Scotland in the economic downturn. He also confirmed that, last week, the Greens had been offered a home insulation scheme that would have been free and universal, as they had wanted, but this had been changed and turned into a means-tested scheme.

The revised offer was put to them this week – an offer which the Greens then rejected.

But Mr Swinney denied he had decided to "punish" the Greens by changing the offer after they voted down the Budget last week. "It was a recognition of the fact that I needed a broad coalition behind the government's proposals," he said.

"I can only spend the sums of money I've got and I've utilised resources to support the apprenticeship request that the Labour Party made to me.

"And, in that fashion, I've delivered very substantial endorsement of the government's Budget by the support and participation of the Labour Party in the vote tonight."

Mr Swinney said the changes to the Budget altered just 0.3 per cent of his original spending plan.

He insisted that the week-long wrangle following last week's debate had not damaged the parliament's reputation.

"What parliament has done is demonstrate that it can confront difficulties and it can resolve them swiftly and effectively," he said.

The Lib Dems had originally demanded a 2p cut in income tax, but voted with the government after it made a number of concessions to them.

These will see the SNP administration make a submission to the Calman Commission – the Westminster-backed body examining devolution – to argue the case for Holyrood to have borrowing powers.

That is hardly much of a problem for Mr Salmond, who has already spoken of his desire to secure borrowing powers, but this will be portrayed by the Liberal Democrats as a key change because it will force the SNP to engage more closely with the commission.

Other concessions to the Lib Dems include a jobs taskforce for Scotland's struggling financial sector, the creation of a cross-party body to study public spending, and a commitment to commission school projects this year along with the promise of future funds to support them.

Annabel Goldie, the Scottish Conservative leader, said: "Our total gains of nearly a 250,000 have made this a Budget for the high street, which will help Scotland to weather the worst of Labour's recession and address some of the key issues in Scotland today.

"That is why we voted for the Budget last week, and this week; not for us the petty posturing of Labour and the Lib Dems."

What lies behind Lib Dem leader's decision to cave in to Swinney's plans?

JOHN Swinney was the model of contrition last week. He had failed to get the Budget passed by parliament, for the first time in its history.

Seven days later and not only has the finance secretary got the Budget through, he has also done it with the almost unanimous support of the parliament – except the Greens.

Most importantly, Mr Swinney has managed to get pretty much the same Budget passed this week as was defeated last, without having to find more government money to meet opposition demands.

How did he do it? First, he had luck on his side. No-one knew last week that the Liberal Democrats would cave in so spectacularly, ditch their commitment to an income tax cut and agree to support the Budget for no new money at all. Having the Lib Dems on board suddenly made everything easy. Mr Swinney had the votes he needed so he could afford to barter with Labour and the Greens.

He really wanted Labour support; to present the sort of consensual approach he was so keen to show, but also to get the maximum support for his plans. But, on the other side of the equation was the Scottish Green Party's MSPs, Robin Harper and Patrick Harvie. Mr Swinney did everything he could to get them on board last week and they still ended up voting against the Budget and bringing it down.

Having got the Lib Dems on board, he did not feel the need, or the desire, to compromise again with the two MSPs who had caused him so much anguish the week before. So he cut the offer on the table to the Greens, offering the money to Labour instead for its apprenticeships plan.

The result was unexpected. Labour and the Lib Dems voted in favour (along with the independent MSP Margo MacDonald and the Conservatives) and the Greens – feeling snubbed and politically bruised – voted against. Mr Swinney got his own back, but will it backfire? Will the Greens vote against the SNP government on a more regular basis?

Mr Harvie, the co-leader, refused to talk about this yesterday, but a full breakdown of relations between the Greens and the SNP is a real possibility.

The Tories emerged with key concessions of a town-centre regeneration fund and outdoor education; Labour got its apprenticeship scheme – at least for one year – Ms MacDonald got a rolling pot of money for Edinburgh and more for affordable housing, but what about the Lib Dems?

The party suffered general derision over its decision to ditch its policy of cutting income tax by 2p in the pound, then falling over itself to do a deal with the SNP. "They haven't been bought off," said one MSP, "because their support is not actually costing any money."

"Sold out for a second-class stamp," was the verdict of another – a reference to the Lib Dems' key demand that Alex Salmond write to the Calman Commission and ask that it back borrowing powers for the Scottish Government.

There was a half-serious suggestion in the press corridor this week that Tavish Scott, the Lib Dem leader, be presented with a box of Sugar Puffs at his press conference announcing his support for the SNP Budget.

This was a reminder of a comment made by one radio pundit who said that asking Mr Salmond to back borrowing powers was like asking the Honey Monster if he wanted more Sugar Puffs. So why did they do it? Why did Mr Scott move so quickly to ditch a policy he had stood by so defiantly for several months?

The first point that emerged from the Lib Dem group yesterday was that this was Mr Scott's decision. He really did lead from the front on this one.

Mr Scott decided, as soon as the Budget fell last week, that the Lib Dems could get themselves back in the game and get something out of it, and he persuaded his parliamentary group to back him.

"Tavish got a fairly easy ride on this," said one Lib Dem MSP. yesterday. "He explained the situation and, after discussion, he was given the backing to do it."

Another MSP suggested that, while there had been initial unease among some MSPs, they had all come round to Mr Scott's view pretty quickly – even though it meant that the party would be pilloried for ditching its principles.

Having decided to renegotiate with the SNP, there was then the difficult question of what the Lib Dems would ask for. Other parties demanded specific budgetary proposals, but the Lib Dems did not do that. Instead, they asked for the First Minister's submission to the Calman Commission, a financial services task force for jobs and a new approach to spending decisions in the future, involving all the parties.

A Lib Dem source said this was a deliberate decision, because the party had just come from a position of demanding massive public-sector cuts to pay for an income tax cut.

"We couldn't go from public-sector cuts to demanding that public money be spent on specific projects; we would have been crucified," said the source.

The Lib Dems got their deal, the SNP got the votes it needed to get the Budget through, and that was that.

Or was it? There were suggestions at Holyrood last night that this might be the start of a "Lib Dem-SNP love-in", and that the Liberals might be prepared to help the Scottish Government more in the future, certainly on local income tax and possibly on other matters.

This would help the Lib Dems ease themselves away from Labour's shadow and give the SNP an alternative to relying on the Greens to get legislation through.

Was this the underlying reason behind Mr Scott's opportunism? Only time will tell.

Is it the start of a wonderful relationship between Tavish and Alex?