Executive under fire as budget surplus set to fall

OPPOSITION parties today accused the Executive of mismanaging taxpayers’ money, as ministers prepared to announce details of a multi-million pound budget surplus.

Ministers have so far refused to reveal the size of the underspend for the last year, but Executive sources confirmed it has fallen from 643 million in 2002 to a figure below 500m. The Lib-Lab coalition’s priority areas of health, education and criminal justice are all expected to benefit when finance minister Andy Kerr makes an official announcement about the unspent cash to MSPs on Thursday.

And there may be cash to set the ball rolling on Edinburgh Airport’s planned rail link. The Tories, who along with the SNP have attacked ministers for overseeing yet another multi-million pound underspend, called for a cut in business rates.

Scottish Tory finance spokesman Brian Monteith said: "The Government manages to constantly underspend. The fact it’s happening every year suggests that at last we could look to cut some tax in Scotland. Top of the list should be business rates which are crippling too many Scottish companies."

Any Executive underspend is defined as "end of year flexibility". The sum in 2000 was 435m, but this rose sharply to 718m in 2001, before falling to 643m in 2002.