Exclusive:Scottish budget: 'Tough decisions' on police and fire service, say unions
The Scottish Police Federation and Fire Brigades’ Union had condemned the Scottish Government’s budgetfor 2026/27
Scotland’s police and fire brigade unions have warned “tough decisions” will have to be made because the Scottish Government has not handed them enough money to protect communities effectively.
The Scottish Police Federation said the funding gap in the light of Finance Secretary Shona Robison’s Budget this week will mean Police Scotland will struggle to invest in specialist services such as child sexual exploitation and cyber crime.
The Fire Brigades’ Union said the service will not be able to hire the number of firefighters they need over the next three years.
Ms Robison unveiled the Scottish Government’s budget for 2026/27 on Tuesday, including small increases for both Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
A total of £1.7 billion was allocated to Police Scotland (up from £1.6bn in 2025/26) and £436 million for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (up from £413m in 2025/26).
The government said this increased funding will “enable them to fulfil their critical role as first responders, while also supporting and strengthening local communities”.
However Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr MSP described the funding as a “hammer blow” for the emergency services, courts and prisons.
And unions representing both police and firefighters the funding is nowhere near enough for them to provide the services they need to in the next financial year, and that communities will suffer as a result.
David Threadgold, chair of the Scottish Police Federation, told The Scotsman: “The budget could have been so much better.
“We needed an additional £130m and we only got £90m. The government says this is ‘record funding’, but it would have been record funding if it had only been £10 extra.
“I don’t want people to believe this is a great settlement, because it is 65 per cent of what we asked for.
“There will now need to be tough decisions on police numbers and how we invest in technology for the future.”
Police Scotland had hoped for enough money to fund an extra 850 officers and 348 civilian staff, but Mr Threadgold said the force will not now be able to do this. Other investments such as training for specialist officers will also now need to be cut as a result.
As well as more funding for boots on the ground and training, Mr Threadgold said too much of police officer time is being taken up with health calls and the current way of working is “unsustainable” - one sergeant in Inverness even told the federation that 80 per cent of their time was lost to this type of call out.
The federation is concerned the 2026/27 budget also does not allow enough capacity within the health service to free up police time.
Mr Threadgold added: “The reality is this is not a good news budget for policing.
“It will now all come down to priorities on what we can and cannot do.”
The Fire Brigades’ Union also branded the budget a “wasted opportunity”.
John McKenzie from the union said: “For the fourth year in a row the Scottish Government has failed to find the investment required to expand the role of the fire and rescue service in Scotland.
“While our members will broadly welcome the increase to the resource budget as a small step in the right direction, it is still over £11m short of what the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service set out as being required to recruit the new firefighters needed over the next three years.
“With 1,250 firefighter jobs lost since 2013, the resource increase doesn’t go far enough to repair the damage these cuts have caused.
“The capital budget increase of less than £1.5m is utterly inadequate and sits against an £818m capital backlog leaving fire stations not fit for purpose, some held up by scaffolding and many without adequate toilets or running water.”
He said the budget “fails” the fire service who are “being forced to work under increasingly intolerable conditions”.
Mr Kerr said: “The SNP’s latest budget is yet another hammer blow to Scotland’s justice system.
“When Police Scotland, our fire service, our courts and our prisons are all warning they can no longer cope, it is indefensible for ministers to short‑change them yet again.
“This is a government that talks tough on justice but refuses to fund the basics.
“These vital organisations - which look after every single one of us - deserve robust support and resourcing, something the Scottish Conservatives have committed to do and in detail.”
Justice Secretary Angela Constance said: “I am grateful to Police Scotland and to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service for all they continue to do to keep communities safe.
“The 2026/27 budget, if passed, will provide record funding of more than £1.7bn for policing and almost £436m for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
“Scotland continues to have more police officers per capita than England and Wales and recorded crime is down by half since 1991.
“We have more firefighters per capita than other parts of the UK and our funding will enable the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to continue to deliver a reliable, effective service.”
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