Spending round gives Scotland huge spending boost
Scotland to benefit from increased spending for capital projects.
Scotland will benefit from increased spending for capital projects as well as being protected from cuts in its resource budget relative to the rest of the UK in the Spending Round announced by the Chancellor today.
Despite the difficult economic times, this Spending Review will see the Scottish Government鈥檚 ability to spend public money on capital projects such as infrastructure and 鈥渟hovel ready鈥� projects will increase by over 拢400m - 12.9% in real terms - to 拢3.3 billion for 2015/16.
This includes increased capital borrowing powers - set at 拢296m in 2015/16, up to an overall limit of 拢2.2bn 鈥� which are provided by the Scotland Act 2012.
The Scottish Government鈥檚 resource budget for 2015/16 (拢25.7bn) will see a small decrease in cash terms of -0.1% from 2014/15 (-1.9% in real terms).
The decrease for the Scottish Government is significantly less than the overall resource reduction for the whole UK Government and the up to 10% cuts to non-protected UK departments.
The Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore said:
鈥淭oday we see the positive case for Scotland as part of the UK in pounds and pence which can be spent by the Scottish Government improving the lives of those in Scotland, boosting the economy and creating jobs.
鈥淭he Spending Round provides a huge spending boost for Scotland. It is 拢400m in additional spending power which the Scottish Government can spend as it sees fit, which is a good example of devolution working in practice.
鈥淭he Scottish Government has asked for additional capital resource and the UK Government has delivered it. They must now use it to invest in Scotland and help the economy grow.
鈥淭his good news is coupled with the fact the Scottish resource budget will be about flat cash in 2015/16, significantly better than the reductions across the rest of the UK.
鈥淏eing part of the larger UK economy and pooling resources from a wide UK tax base allows Scotland to have a stable budget that can be allocated from Edinburgh. Being part of the UK also protects Scotland from the volatility of resources such as oil and its potential impacts on annual budgets.
鈥淭he Scottish Government should welcome today鈥檚 news as a fair and positive result for Scotland.鈥�