David Mundell's position '˜becoming untenable', say SNP

Scottish Secretary David Mundell has come under pressure from the SNP. Picture: John Devlin

David Mundell's position as Scotland Secretary is 'becoming untenable' after he promised that a deal between the Conservatives and the DUP would result in a funding boost north of the border, the SNP has claimed.

Nicola Sturgeon’s party said Mr Mundell had been left “utterly humiliated” by Theresa May’s agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party, which will deliver an extra £1bn of public funding for Northern Ireland.

The Government has confirmed that the deal will not result in any additional funding for Scotland or other devolved parts of the UK, with the extra cash being provided outside the Barnett Formula.

Before the agreement was struck, Mr Mundell said he would not support funding that “deliberately sought to subvert the Barnett rules” and would seek to block any deal that relied on “back door” money for Northern Ireland.

The day before the Tory-DUP deal was announced, he was quoted in a Scottish Sunday newspaper as saying: “The Barnett Formula is to Scotland’s advantage.

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“I’m not going to do anything to prejudice that.

“Any funding that goes to Northern Ireland, then Barnett rules will ensure the appropriate funding comes to Scotland.”

Formal dispute

On Tuesday the Scottish Government said it was “likely” to trigger formal dispute resolution talks over the £1bn deal, describing it as a “gross breach of the established principles of devolution”.

The Barnett Formula dictates the amount of UK Government money that is distributed to Scotland, the other devolved nations and English regions.

It is designed so that any increase or reduction in funding for devolved services in England should result in a similar pounds-per-person change for other areas – known as “Barnett consequentials”.

“Mr Mundell insisted, repeatedly, that he would not stand for a deal that saw extra funding for Northern Ireland without any extra funding for Scotland,” said the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford.

“He said, unequivocally, that he wouldn’t stand for it.

“Either he has gone back on his word and agreed to the deal, or he’s been left out of the loop and utterly humiliated.

“Either way, there is no way that David Mundell can credibly claim to be standing up for Scotland’s interests in the Cabinet.”

Downing Street has insisted that the Barnett Formula does not apply to the new money, as it is being provided on top of the block grant given to the Northern Ireland Executive.

Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson pointed out that the formula also did not apply to the various city deals in Scotland and Wales, or to previous packages of support for Northern Ireland.

“The UK Government has always been able to spend outside Barnett – like the city deals, which invested £500m directly in Glasgow, £125m in Aberdeen and £53m in Inverness.

“It’s absurd for the SNP to criticise UK Government spending on top of Barnett in Northern Ireland when the exact same thing happens in Scotland.”