SNP ministers accused of 'selling off the family silver' to plug £1bn black hole

Ian Murray, the Scottish Secretary, blamed Scottish Government decisions for the financial challenges north of the Border.

He criticised SNP ministers for raiding up to £460 million from the ScotWind fund, which was raised in an offshore licensing round. This money was initially earmarked for tackling “the twin climate and biodiversity crises”.

Speaking to the Scottish Parliamentary Journalists' Association (SPJA), Mr Murray said: "Firstly, quite clearly the Scottish Fiscal Commission has said that it's their policy choices that have made this problem in Scotland, rather than pointing at a Labour government that's been in for eight weeks. 

"Secondly, their tax regime has cost more money than it has raised, overall, which has created a more difficult fiscal position for them.

"And they have sold off the family silver, in terms of the £460m from ScotWind. It wasn't that long ago that [former first minister] Alex Salmond was talking about a Saudi Arabia of renewables."

Mr Murray added: "Selling off the family silver to plug that fiscal gap is a real problem and something that we're going to have to be cognisant of."

Recent analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found the decision by SNP ministers to freeze council tax last year “cost almost double the amount raised from increases in income tax rates on higher earners”, adding: “Tax policy decisions therefore reduced rather than raised revenues, increasing the pressure on Scotland’s public finances.”

Last week, SNP finance secretary Shona Robison announced up to £500m of cuts to areas such as health and sustainable travel. She said she was also “reluctantly planning” to utilise up to £460m of money raised via the ScotWind scheme.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer previously called on the SNP to be "honest" about the "financial mess" the Scottish Government has created in Scotland.

Responding to Mr Murray’s comments, Ms Robison said: “Despite being tied to a declining UK economy and without the economic or fiscal powers of a normal independent country, since 2007, GDP per person has grown by 10.8 per cent in Scotland, compared to 5.6 per cent in the UK, and productivity has grown at an annual average rate of 1 per cent a year, compared with the UK’s 0.5 per cent.

“However, Westminster austerity is unsustainable and is having a hugely damaging impact on public services and living standards. As Ian Murray’s colleague, the health secretary says, ‘all roads lead back to Westminster.’

“For months, Labour refused to be honest with voters that their spending plans would lead to billions of pounds of cuts to public services – despite repeated warnings from the SNP. Now, following the Chancellor’s announcement of £22 billion of cuts, Scotland faces the most challenging financial situation in the history of the reconvened Scottish Parliament, and we have taken tough decisions to avoid further spending cuts.

“I am proud to serve in a Government which has delivered a balanced budget every year that we have been in office, is investing to lift children in Scotland out of poverty, and is ensuring our police, our nurses and our teachers are the best-paid in the UK.”

Ms Robison’s defence was delivered as one of the country’s most prominent business bodies is set to today say there must be a “clear direction” from government on net zero.

The CBI will tonight host its annual dinner in Glasgow, which will be addressed by the group’s chief executive Rain Newton-Smith.

In her address, Ms Newton-Smith will urge governments north and south of the Border to harness the “restless energy” of Scotland’s businesses in relation to the net zero sector and use “Scotland’s clean energy as a golden ticket to growth”.

She is expected to say: “There’s only so much we in business can do ourselves without clear direction, plans and backing from government.

“Now, at last things seem to be moving. We’ve got commitments from Westminster and Holyrood to reform planning – that’s more progress on planning in the last eight weeks than the last eight years. But it still doesn’t feel like we’ve been given the green light. We’ve got vision, but not detail. We’ve got direction, but not certainty.

“Businesses have a restless energy to go for growth, to invest, but they need really clear signals from governments north and south of the border to lay down their markers.”