Spring Budget analysis: Jeremy Hunt creates headaches for Scottish Tories and nightmare for Labour

The extension of the windfall tax is a problem for Douglas Ross.

Jeremy Hunt has delivered the Spring Budget, in a financial statement that seemed to pour cold water on growing rumours of a May election.

The Chancellor delivered no rabbits or surprises, instead delivering a Budget as expected, and one that left space for further tax cuts later this year. In fact, the Budget had even less measures than 2023’s Autumn Statement, suggesting there could be further announcements to come.

The most notable measure, when it came to Scotland, was the extension of the windfall tax, something the Scottish Tories had repeatedly railed against.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt (second from left) chatting with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (second from right) after presenting the Spring Budget statement in the House of Commons in London. Picture: Jessica Taylor/UK Parliament/AFP via Getty Images

Having condemned Labour’s plans to extend the policy, and insisted the Scottish Tories would protect Scotland’s oil and gas companies in the North Sea, Douglas Ross and his colleagues have now seen the same approach adopted by the government.

This means Scottish Tories will either be forced to U-turn on an issue they have made a cornerstone of their recent campaigns, or vote against the government. If MPs Andrew Bowie and John Lamont were to do so, as government ministers, they’d be forced to resign.

It speaks to a divide between Downing Street and their Scottish colleagues, something Rishi Sunak had worked so hard to address. Now, instead of going out and singing the praises of the Budget, Scottish Tories are instead openly condemning it.

The Budget was also a nightmare for the Labour party, not least because it appeared to suggest there will be no early election. But worse than that is the state of the public finances.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross is furious with the windfall tax extension.

According to the Institute for Economic Studies, with bigger increases expected for health, defence and childcare, public services face being cut by a total of around £20 billion per year by 2028. If Labour win the election, such severe cuts are a mess they’ll have to work with.

By abolishing the non dom tax status, Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has also admitted there is now a hole in Labour’s NHS funding plans, and they’ll have to find new ways to fund it.

The Spring Budget kicked the can down the road for the next government, and took money out of the public purse for tax rises. Labour might win the eventual election, but the aftermath will be anything but easy.