SNP forces through budget amid claim of anti-business tax

The finance secretary’s £28.3bn plans passed the first parliamentary stage, with the SNP using its overall majority to get the measures through despite Labour, the Greens and the Lib Dems voting against.

Mr Swinney said key features of the budget included £327 million for Scottish universities over the three-year spending review period, as well as a £70m National Renewables Infrastructure Fund to support green energy and the continuation of the small business bonus scheme.

But last night the SNP government’s budget was attacked for making Scottish business “less competitive” than the rest of the UK after the Nationalist administration forced through its controversial supermarket tax as part of its spending plans for 2012-13.

The measures, which included 25,000 modern apprenticeships and a guaranteed training or learning opportunity for every 16- to 19-year-old, were also heavily criticised by opposition parties as not going “remotely far enough” to boost job creation.

Mr Swinney was accused of making “damaging cuts” to Scotland’s housing and college budget, with opposition MSPs claiming that the minister was slashing spending by tens of millions of pounds.

The finance secretary told MSPs that the budgetary measures announced yesterday would help Scotland deal with the “severe economic difficulties” facing the country’s economy and would ensure public services are “supported in the years to come” as he pledged £11.4bn for local authorities to continue the SNP’s council tax freeze and the party’s pledge to maintain police and teacher numbers.

However, Tory finance spokesman Gavin Brown said that the plan to tax large retail stores selling alcohol and tobacco up to £100 million over the next three years sent out a “signal that the Scottish Government was quite happy to put up taxes”.

Mr Brown said: “In this Budget, they want to introduce a Scotland-only tax which would hit retail stores only in Scotland, making them less competitive than the rest of the UK – sending out the signal that the Scottish Government is quite happy to put up taxes where they think it’s appropriate without even having an impact assessment.”

Iain McMillan, the director of CBI Scotland, attacked the SNP government for keeping the retail tax in the budget, despite opposition from Scottish business to the move.

He said: “CBI Scotland is disappointed that the Scottish Government has included the higher rates of tax for larger retailers selling alcohol and tobacco.

“The Scottish Government has claimed that this is a tax to promote better health, but it is simply a measure to raise extra money for the government.”

Mr Swinney said the government would “consider alternative spending proposals” during the next two stages of the budget, as the first stage of his bill was voted through by a margin of 64 to 40, with 14 MSPs abstaining.

He said: “This government has taken the decisions to prioritise economic recovery, to ensure that Scotland is in a position to deal with the severe economic difficulties that we face, to build for the future and to ensure that our public services are supported in the years to come.

“That is the foundation of the government’s budget. The government looks forward to the debate on this issue in the course of the next two weeks, to listening to the arguments of the opposition, to responding where there are constructive and positive suggestions, and delivering a budget that meets the needs of the people of Scotland.”

However, Scottish Labour’s finance spokesman Ken Macintosh warned that the budget did not do enough to “generate employment or to galvanise the Scottish economy”.

He said: “One Scot in every ten is unemployed, one in five Scottish children lives in poverty and growth here has been weaker over the last year than across the UK.

“There are, of course, some decisions in this budget on which we will agree. There is widespread support for the principle of moving to preventative spend.

“Labour have campaigned long and hard to boost the numbers of apprenticeships on offer; we want to see early intervention programmes and to protect spending on our health service – even if there may be robust discussion over how these policies are implemented.

“But, overall, the budget does not do enough to generate employment or to galvanise the Scottish economy.”

Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur claimed that the SNP government had “significant additional funds” at its disposal since the draft budget was published last September, as a result of additional funds from the UK government.

He said: “Sadly, the budget bill published last week provides no detail on how these resources will be spent. For colleges, facing the threat of significant cuts and wholesale mergers, this lack of detail is creating further difficulties.

“On affordable housing, too, SNP ministers now have funds available that will help deliver the commitment to 6,000 new homes for rent each year.

“The absence of any detail on this issue, too, is regrettable, as there has been growing anger at the backtracking by ministers over recent months.”

Meanwhile, Green MSP Patrick Harvie attacked the SNP government’s decision to stage the budget debate on the same day as the referendum consultation launch, as he accused ministers of trying to bury news about a “bad budget.”

He said: “Today’s budget debate will receive a fraction of the coverage that it deserves, and I question why the Scottish Government has chosen to organise its agenda in this way. It’s a bad budget, and it deserves full attention and scrutiny at every stage.”