A TORY MSP’s complaint about a “misleading” tweet from the Scottish Government has been dismissed by the head of the civil service.
Murdo Fraser raised a complaint with the Scottish Government about a post on Twitter/X ahead of the Budget, which he said gave the impression Scotland’s spending decisions were dictated by Westminster.
The tweet read: “Below-inflation funding uplifts in England impact Scotland's budget.
"In the UK Government's Autumn Statement, only £10.8 million of extra funding was provided for NHS Scotland for the next year, a real-terms cut.
"This would fund just five hours of NHS Scotland activity in a year."
Devolution allows for the Scottish Government to decide how it spends the money that it receives from Westminster on things like education and health.
READ MORE: Tories call for probe into 'misleading' Scottish Government tweet
Analysis from independent forecasters at the Scottish Fiscal Commission published earlier this week showed a slight increase of 0.9% to Scotland’s budget from Westminster in real terms.
In his Autumn Statement last month, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt reduced planned funding for NHS England by 2%.
Permanent Secretary John Paul Marks (above), who is the head of the Scottish civil service, said he had “carefully considered” the points raised by the Tory MSP – but said he was satisfied the tweet was within the rules.
He wrote: “I welcome your feedback and have given careful consideration to the points you have raised.
READ MORE: New devolution-busting funding announced as Scotland denied say on £8m pot
“I appreciate that social media messaging has limitations when communicating complex material, which is why we also published the associated analysis at the same time; and have since published much more material too in the Budget 2024-25 documents.
“Following review and assurance from my chief economist and senior colleagues, I am content that the messaging within the communications products is consistent with the accompanying and assured Scottish Government paper.”
Fraser told The National he believed the tweet was “blatantly party-political” and “misleading”.
He said: “I understand the Permanent Secretary’s first instinct is to defend his civil service colleagues but, even then, I find his response disappointing.
“The tweet in question was blatantly party-political and, more importantly, highly misleading. Indeed, such was the outcry against it that [Twitter] X issued a ‘community note’, highlighting concerns over its accuracy.
“That was both humiliating and damning for a post from a supposedly impartial Scottish Government channel.”
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