KATE FORBS set aside £ 20 million for a second independence referendum next year, despite warnings of major public spending cuts in Scotland.
Labor has accused the government of wasting money “on a separation referendum, while cutting local services to the bone”.
But the Scottish Greens defended the decision, accusing opposition parties of “deliberately not understanding how democracy works”.
Speaking to Holyrood as he presented the Scottish Government’s review of resource costs, the finance secretary warned that Scotland was facing an “unprecedented cost of living crisis”.
Ms Forbes told the ICJ that there had been a “real 5.2% reduction between last year and this year” on the money available to ministers.
She added: “Our funding in real terms has increased by only 2% over the four-year period, after taking into account the transfer of social security benefits.
“This is the harsh reality,” the Allander Institute’s IFS and Fraser commented last weekend.
“But this is not inevitable – it is the result of a deliberate choice by the UK government – as they sit on their hands.
“While the chancellor has welcomed, albeit limited, support for households, the cool winds of Tory austerity are blowing when it comes to public service spending.
According to the IFS think tank, budgets for local government, police, prisons, justice, universities and rural affairs will fall by around 8%, equivalent to real reductions of £ 1.1 billion in these spending areas over four years.
The budget for the promotion of enterprises, tourism and trade is projected to fall by 16% in real terms over the next four years.
While funding for the health and social care portfolio is projected to increase by 0.6% per year in real terms over the next four years, this, according to the think tank, “is much slower than needed to meet rising costs and demand for services’.
However, the detailed budget for the Constitution, foreign affairs and culture revealed that Ms Forbes had allocated £ 20 million for the independence vote.
The total cost to the department will remain at £ 294 million, except for 2023/24, when indyref2 funding will jump to £ 314 million.
Tory MSP Douglas Lumsden said the SNP government was “nothing if unpredictable”.
He said: “They provide data showing that their tax policies are failing and their spending is out of control.”
Mr Lumsden told the ICJ that there was a black hole of £ 3.5 billion in government funding by 2026-2027 and that the SNP was trying to “transfer responsibility to the UK government”.
He added: “With such a mess in public finances, wouldn’t the Cabinet Minister agree with me that the £ 20 million allocated for another divisive independence referendum is a slap in the face to so many hard-working Scots who have to pay more and get paid less? ”
The minister did not respond to the remark on the vote on the constitution, but said Mr Lumsden had not based his question on the facts before him.
She said he and other Tory MSPs, citing a £ 3.5 billion black hole, quoted outdated figures.
“You can’t have unbalanced spending plans under a delegated agreement where I can only spend what is raised.”
Ms Forbes said the Tories should “lobby their British counterparts to increase funding for the Scottish budget”.
Following a statement in Parliament, Scottish Labor Labor spokesman Daniel Johnson said: “Scots are about to be hit by the biggest drop in cash since the recordings began, but the SNP has nothing to offer but empty rhetoric and the same old twist.
“Fifteen years of unsuccessful economic policy of the SNP have brought us to this point, and this terrible update promises more than the same.
“They are cutting back on economic development as our economy falls off a scale and loses £ 20 million in a split referendum, while cutting local services to the bone.
Scottish Greens MP Ross Greer told The National: “Both the Scottish Greens and the SNP have committed to a referendum on independence in our manifestos for the May 2021 elections.
“Our parties, taken together, won more votes than the three anti-referendum parties combined, which is the normal measure of who won the election.
“Our shared commitment to a referendum was reaffirmed in the August 2021 Butte House agreement that brought the Greens into government.
“The Scottish Government has a clear mandate to fund this referendum, and through it the people of Scotland will determine our future. It’s really quite simple. ”
Pamela Nash, Scotland’s chief executive at Union, said: “This is a gross loss of public money at a time when our NHS is in desperate need of resources and households are facing a cost-of-living crisis.
“SNP politicians are completely out of touch with the people of Scotland.
“An opinion poll confirms that the vast majority of voters in Scotland do not support Nicolas Sturgeon’s schedule for a split second referendum on leaving the UK next year.
“Instead of being obsessed with their negative campaign to divide Scotland, ministers need to focus on fixing the mess they have made on our public services.
The 2014 referendum cost the government £ 15.8 million, with most of it spent on providing census staff across Scotland.
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