{"id":188293,"date":"2024-12-04T15:23:15","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T15:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/04\/scottish-draft-budget-under-way-as-snp-reveal-plans-for-the-coming-year\/"},"modified":"2024-12-04T15:23:15","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T15:23:15","slug":"scottish-draft-budget-under-way-as-snp-reveal-plans-for-the-coming-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/04\/scottish-draft-budget-under-way-as-snp-reveal-plans-for-the-coming-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Scottish draft budget under way as SNP reveal plans for the coming year"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Scottish<\/div>


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Scotland’s finance secretary has begun to unveil the nation’s draft budget for the coming year.<\/p>\n

Shona Robison is setting out the Scottish government’s tax and spending plans for 2025-26 in a speech at Holyrood.<\/p>\n

The MSP previously said the budget will put “the people of Scotland<\/a><\/strong> first”.<\/p>\n

Ms Robison told the chamber on Wednesday: “This budget invests in public services, lifts children out of poverty, acts in the face of the climate emergency, and supports jobs and economic growth.<\/p>\n

“It is a budget filled with hope for Scotland’s future.”<\/p>\n

Highlights from the draft budget:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 The nation’s NHS will receive a record \u00a321bn for health and social care – an increase of \u00a32bn for frontline NHS boards.<\/p>\n

\u2022 More than \u00a3300m of ScotWind revenues will be invested in jobs and in measures to meet the climate challenge.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a3768m will be invested into affordable homes, enabling more than 8,000 new properties for social rent, mid-market rent and low-cost home ownership to be built or acquired this coming year.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Scottish government will also work with the City of Edinburgh Council to “unlock” more than 800 new net zero homes at the local authority’s Granton development site.<\/p>\n

\u2022 An additional \u00a3800m will be invested into social security benefits.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a3120m will be provided to headteachers to support initiatives designed to address the poverty-related attainment gap.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Free school meals will also be expanded to primary 6 and 7 children from low-income families.<\/p>\n

\u2022 A new initiative titled “bright start breakfasts” will be funded to help deliver more breakfast clubs in primary schools across the country.<\/p>\n

The Scottish budget is largely funded through the block grant alongside taxes raised north of the border.<\/p>\n

Holyrood has an additional \u00a33.4bn to spend in 2025-26, thanks to cash announced by UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her budget in October – taking the overall settlement to \u00a347.7bn.<\/p>\n

However, the Scottish budget for 2023-24 amounted to around \u00a359.7bn.<\/p>\n

Holyrood ministers are legally obliged to balance the books and have limited borrowing powers with which to raise additional funds.<\/p>\n

The SNP has already confirmed plans to use some of the funding to restore a universal winter fuel payment<\/a><\/strong> for pensioners next year.<\/p>\n

Under the plans, those in receipt of pension credit or other benefits will receive a \u00a3200 or \u00a3300 payment, depending on their age.<\/p>\n

All other pensioners will receive a reduced payment of \u00a3100.<\/p>\n

The SNP’s flagship council tax freeze is expected to be ditched.<\/p>\n

The budget comes as spending watchdog Audit Scotland warned that the NHS is unsustainable in its present state, with a fundamental change “urgently needed”.<\/p>\n

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\n Image:<\/span>
\n Ms Robison during a visit to Logan Energy in Edinburgh earlier on Wednesday. Pic: PA
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\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The draft budget will be scrutinised in the Scottish parliament over the coming weeks before an expected vote in February, where the SNP<\/a><\/strong> will need to garner support from outside its minority administration for it to pass.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

This live news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.<\/em><\/p>\n

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.<\/em><\/p>\n

You can receive news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News App<\/strong><\/a>. You can also follow @SkyNews on X<\/strong><\/a> or subscribe to our YouTube channel<\/strong><\/a> to keep up with the latest news.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Scotland’s finance secretary has begun to unveil the nation’s draft budget for the coming year. Shona Robison is setting out the Scottish government’s tax and spending plans for 2025-26 in a speech at Holyrood. The MSP previously said the budget will put “the people of Scotland first”. Ms Robison told the chamber on Wednesday: “This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/12\/768x432\/skynews-shona-robison-snp-scotland_6766411.jpg?20241204125631","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[5002,6731,4048,1925,4405,9533,4356,568],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188293"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188293"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":188295,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188293\/revisions\/188295"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}