Scottish Budget: Westminster reaction as MPs accuse SNP of 'dishonest claims' and inflicting austerity

Delivering the Scottish Budget during a time of economic hardship was always going to be difficult, but Tuesday’s statement prompted an anger rarely seen from opposition parties.

Politicians giving quotes or discussing rivals' policies are usually critical, but said calmly, with a focus on scoring points.

However, speaking to Westminster MPs after finance secretary Shona Robinson’s Budget statement, the mood was one of genuine fury at the decisions, and the justification for them.

Opposition MPs spoke of creative accounting, austerity and decisions being made with a focus on campaigning, rather than delivering for Scotland.

Opposition MPs were deeply critical of the Scottish Government's budget.

The row had been brewing ever since the Scottish Government’s inaccurate social media post, claiming “the money coming from the UK Government for health amounts to £10.8m”, or “five hours capacity”.

Demonstrably untrue, it was followed by a Budget that raised taxes, but froze council tax – decisions MPs told The Scotsman they believe the SNP has failed to justify.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack, whose party has overseen its own record high tax burden, claimed the decision “deters business investment and punishes hard-working people”.

He also accused the Scottish Government of wasting hundreds of millions of pounds, and urged them to take responsibility for “its spending choices and the resultant self-inflicted budget black hole, rather than blaming the UK Government and penalising Scottish taxpayers”.

His comments were representative of a wider feeling in the Tory party. Energy security minister Andrew Bowie called the Budget an “admission of utter failure”, adding the SNP “couldn’t run a bath”.

Other Tories echoed these sentiments, calling for tighter scrutiny of the Scottish Budget by forecasters. One sighed: “We have to do something, or they keep getting away with it.”

Labour were equally furious, accusing the SNP of implementing austerity, but refusing to take responsibility. Shadow Scotland secretary Ian Murray claimed the Budget showed “no ideas and no vision”, and inflicted a financial hole on Scotland.

He pointed out Scottish NHS funding used to be 22 per cent higher than England, but was now only 3 per cent above, despite a Tory Government in Westminster. The Edinburgh South MP also dismissed the idea Holyrood was limited by Westminster, and suggested even the tax rises weren’t helpful.

“Their lack of growth compared to NW England where there is some devolution has cost £8.5bn to Scotland if they had just matched NW region,” Mr Murray said. “They haven’t grown the tax base, but milked it. And while paying more people are getting less.”

Liberal Democrat MPs insisted the SNP had control of tax, benefits and many areas of spending, so couldn’t blame Westminster.

MP Alistair Carmichael claimed it was “more than a bit dishonest”, adding: “It’s all about blaming somebody else for things you have control over and have had control over for the last 16 years.”

He continued: “It’s just an excuse, it’s all excuses. Truth of the matter is they have just become so accustomed to blaming other people, the Greens now do exactly the same. It’s a culture of always wanting to blame someone else rather than do the stuff you need to do to make a difference. They’ve got off without doing that for a long time, but they were never going to get away with it forever.”

MPs pointed to abandoning the Scottish Child Payment, cutting the housing budget and slashing the child poverty budget.

Mr Carmichael said: You’re going to see cuts to services because, as Audit Scotland warned, nothing has been modernised. There is no plan and it permeates every aspect of what is going on here.”

SNP MPs were more supportive, with one claiming that even if everyone had been given a million pounds, opposition parties would still complain.

While admitting they hadn’t seen all the detail, one MP called it “difficult circumstances with budget squeezed from Westminster”.

They insisted: “Overall it's doing what is possible to support priorities and continue to protect, as much as possible, against continued UK Government austerity cuts, with the limited powers available”.

Another SNP MP was more downbeat, lamenting the lack of support for businesses. They added: “It was about as good as it was going to be.”