Exclusive:SNP branded 'irresponsible' as £300m raided from ScotWind revenues to prop up Budget
The Scottish Government is having to use one-off funding pots to balance its day-to-day spending.
SNP ministers are poised to raid almost £300 million from a one-off flagship renewables funds to balance the books, new Budget analysis has revealed.
The Scottish Government has received around £700m in total from Crown Estate Scotland for one-off leases from energy companies developing ScotWind renewables projects. But with SNP ministers struggling to balance the books in the coming years, they are set to drain £286m from the funding pot over the next two financial years.
SNP Finance Secretary Shona Robison’s draft Budget sets out that £50m from the ScotWind funding will be used in the 2026-27 financial year, while £238m is earmarked to balance the books in the following 2027-28 year for day-to-day revenue funding.
Speaking at a public sector reform conference held by Glasgow University’s Centre for Public Policy, Professor Graeme Roy, chairman of the Scottish Fiscal Commission, warned that the Scottish Government “has essentially thrown the kitchen sink at using all the powers that they have to prop up spending over the next couple of years”.
He warned this included “borrowing money” and “drawing on their reserves”, which he suggested was being used as a “piggy bank”.
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On the use of one-off ScotWind funding, Professor Roy said:
“The government has about £500m in the bank that they can use however they wish. The challenge is that if you use that fund for day-to-day services or to pay for public sector wages, once you use that money you can’t use it again.”
“They are planning to use one-off payments that they received from the Crown Estate Scotland for the ScotWind licensing. The government is planning to use these over the next five years to essentially balance the books.
“They are using a lot of this payment to pay for day-to-day resource spending. That just shows you the scale of the challenge the government is facing that they are using one-off payments in order to keep everything ticking over.”
In the current financial year, SNP ministers are spending £176m of the ScotWind fund - but only £23m is being used to prop up day-to-day spending, with £153m used for capital projects.
Of the £538m remaining of the funds, £50m is being used to support day-to-day revenue funding in the 2026-27 budget while according to official Scottish Government documents “a further £488m is planned to be deployed across the rest of the spending review period” up to 2030.
Scottish Conservative shadow energy secretary Douglas Lumsden, said: “It sums up the SNP’s financial incompetence that they’re set to blow £286m of the ScotWind fund.
“It’s cynical and irresponsible of the nationalists to raid this fund to pay for day-to-day spending, especially in the run-up to an election.”
Scottish Labour finance spokesperson, Michael Marra, said: “Once again the SNP appear to be mortgaging our future by raiding ScotWind funds to plug their own budget gaps.
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“The SNP has tried every trick it has up its sleeve to try and bolster this budget, but it still promises more of the same. Public finances and public services are in chaos after years of poor planning and low growth by the SNP.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We have deployed Scotwind revenues to boost the funding available across the Spending Review period and support investment that provides longer term benefits for Scotland. This includes £50m to support households with the cost of living crisis in 2026-27.
“As the funding outlook evolves during the 2026-27 financial year, and across the spending review period, we will aim to reduce reliance on Crown Estate income for day-to-day spending wherever possible.”
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