Exclusive:'Politically indefensible': Internal correspondence shows strain on Scottish government purse

Requests for sight of correspondence between cabinet secretaries and finance secretary Shona Robison were almost all declined.

But emails that were released by culture secretary Angus Robertson’s office show the cabinet secretary battling Ms Robison over spending limits on his portfolio.

Mr Robertson condemned the budget demands on his portfolio as “politically indefensible”, according to the internal correspondence.

READ MORE: Shock as female SNP MSP has her office ‘bugged’ by male staff member

On August 9, 2024, emails show civil servants writing to Ms Robison’s office regarding his budget returns for 2025/26.

They said: “Mr Robertson has also commented that these make for bleak reading and emphasised the disproportionate cost and impact of the cuts.”

In a separate email on the same date, his office writes: “Mr Robertson commented that while all technically feasible options have been included as per the commission, he does feel that they are politically unfeasible and indefensible.”

Scotland on Sunday asked for sight of correspondence between Ms Robison and all cabinet secretaries and their Director Generals relating to the budget, or what the government refers to as “Path to Balance”.

A previous similar request was fulfilled, albeit with redactions.

However, in what is now an election year, each request for information was declined, citing exemptions designed to allow free and frank exchange between ministers.

For the request for correspondence between Neil Gray and Ms Robison, the Scottish Government said the information would breech a £600 cost limit to collate.

Following a review request by this newspaper, civil servants then agreed that “some of the information originally withheld should now be released”.

However, all released emails were redacted entirely.

Mr Robertson’s portfolio was the only one to release correspondence at first request.

The internal communications give a strong sense of the behind-the-scenes horsetrading between ministers and the finance secretary.

While robust negotiations are usual, sources close to government described the most recent budget as “exceptionally fraught”.

READ MORE: HES manager in Martin Compston twerking row accused of sexual harassment

Emails from January this year show negotiations over the “portfolio pressure” request for the culture portfolio to find £10.5 million towards the National Records of Scotland (NRS) census.

“The portfolio is unable to fund the £10.5m for the census within the 25/26 allocation.

“We have outlined the savings measures already taken and the challenge of making further savings.”

Emails from March show Mr Robertson agreeing to cut £3.8m from his budget but he goes on to tell the finance secretary that her request for a £5m saving against a £34m total “is rather more challenging”.

In September, the finance secretary wrote to all cabinet secretaries to say budget milestones for last July “were not fully met”.

“Significant challenges remain, and we continue to navigate the 2025-26 financial year carrying a number of risks,” Ms Robison wrote.

“It is imperative that the revised budget envelopes agreed in March 2025, across both resource and capital, are delivered in full.

“In this context, I must reiterate that spending should proceed only where essential, with the highest level of scrutiny applied to all proposals.”

However, her email goes to tell cabinet secretaries that a spending limit of £1m before central controls are needed has been raised to £5m.

She adds: “Given the challenging financial position, I must stress that this is not a relaxation of spending controls, but a realignment of appropriate accountability.”

Emails also show the Scottish government’s concern at the late UK budget, which meant a delay in ministers being able to confirm their own spending plans.

Two robust letters from Ms Robison, one in October last year and one in November, make plain the financial restrictions the government is operating under.

In both, she tells cabinet secretaries that the government’s reliance on ScotWind funds must be reduced.

ScotWind is the leasing of Scotland's seabed to companies who want to build offshore wind farms.

Yesterday, Scotland on Sunday’s sister title The Scotsman revealed Audit Scotland has launched an investigation into the ScotWind projects amid fears the £750 million raised from leasing the seabed has been “frittered away” to balance the books.

In her October letter Ms Robison says balancing the 2025/26 Budget is reliant on Scotwind revenues.

“I am keen to reduce our reliance on ScotWind revenues in 2025-26 to create headroom to support 2026-27 which, as we are all aware, is set to be challenging,” she writes.

READ MORE: Figures show staffing numbers up to 5000% higher at Social Security Scotland than DWP

The message is repeated in November when she writes to the cabinet: “Following my note of October 8, you will be aware that recent media reports continue to suggest that the UK Autumn Statement on November 26 may result in a significant worsening of the Scottish Government’s funding position from 2026/27 onwards.

“It is now more important than ever that we reduce our reliance on Scotwind revenues in 2025/26 to create as much headroom to support 2026/27.”

Dr João Sousa, Deputy Director of the Fraser of Allander thinktank at the University of Strathclyde, accused the Scottish government of a “can-kicking strategy” to balancing the budget.

“Its budget has only been financed in recent years on the back of windfalls, be they from better-than-expected tax forecasts or Barnett consequentials,” he added.

“But with a tight Block Grant settlement for the next few years, relying solely on non-recurring funding sources is not an option.

“The reckoning has already happened on capital, and whoever is in power after May will have to seriously grapple with implausible settlements in areas such as health and justice.”

Scottish Labour Finance spokesman Michael Marra accused the government of being “financially incompetent” and keen to avoid “public humiliation” so “just made the cuts in secret”.

“Senior civil servants have made clear to me that they spend the majority of their time fighting to hold on to the department’s money allocated at the start of the year,” Mr Marra said.

“It is this approach – always putting party interest before sound stewardship of the public’s money – that means independent experts are all saying that an emergency budget is a certainty whoever forms a government in May.

“This secretive SNP government is more interested in protecting its own reputation than being honest with the public.

READ MORE: ‘Open to abuse’ as just 1% of disability benefit claims are reviewed by health staff

“Many of the public services we rely on daily have faced painful cuts as the SNP scrambled to plug the budget blackhole they created.

“It adds insult to injury that SNP Ministers are trying to bury the proof of their financial vandalism.”

Scottish Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser said: “This is yet more evidence of the SNP’s culture of secrecy.

“They’re clearly desperate to hide the truth about Shona Robison’s plans for savage cuts and think they can get away with releasing heavily redacted documents.

“Just like with the Sturgeon Files, the nationalists need to stop the secrecy and be transparent with the public.”

In 2024 it was revealed that Ms Robison had introduced emergency spending controls across the government and ordered cabinet secretaries to make sweeping cuts.

Freedom of information responses ahead of the last budget revealed civil servants had been banned from travelling between Glasgow and Edinburgh to cut costs.

Wide-ranging cutbacks affected prisons, health, support for Ukrainian refugees, Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Water to allow public sector pay deals to be struck.

Ms Robison told cabinet ministers money would be allowed to go out from departments only if it was essential to meet legal requirements or prevent an economic crash.

It later emerged this had been the third round of government-wide spending controls, including recruitment restrictions in 2022/23.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Despite increasingly challenging settlements from the UK Government, the Scottish Government has delivered a balanced budget every year. These settlements are not enough to manage the demands of public spending without all areas of government considering reform, efficiency and savings opportunities.

“The Scottish Government carefully manages budgets throughout the financial year as forecasts change and pressures emerge. Any changes to overarching portfolio budgets are reported to Parliament as part of autumn and spring budget revisions in the usual manner.”