THE Chancellor has pledged an additional £820 million for Scotland in her Budget – claiming she did so “because Anas Sarwar asked us to”.
Rachel Reeves also took aim at the SNP as she announced additional funding for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland “over the spending review period”.
The current spending review period runs to 2028-29 for day‑to‑day spending, and 2029‑30 for capital investment. No details on the extra funding were given in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) economic forecasts which were leaked ahead of Reeves’s speech.
However, the Budget document published later revealed that the money would consist of £510m in day-to-day resource funding and £310m in capital funding, all as a result of increases in spending in England.
The Fraser of Allander Institute called the increases "relatively small", adding: "There is no detail yet as to how these break down year by year."
After admonishing the OBR for the leak, Reeves told the Commons: “The benefits of investment and growth must be built and felt in every part of our United Kingdom.
“So we are providing an additional £370m for the Northern Ireland Executive, £505m pounds for the Welsh Government, and £820m for the Scottish Government over the spending review period through the Barnett formula.”
Amid noises from the MPs’ benches, Reeves went on: “Sorry, I didn't quite catch that from the SNP.
“£820m for the Scottish Government over the spending review period – because Anas Sarwar asked us to.”
The Chancellor's comments came despite Sarwar being unable to say what he was lobbying her for in the Budget in a tetchy interview with STV. The Scottish MSP group leader only said he had asked for an "unashamedly Labour Budget".
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Sarwar welcomed the new funding after Reeves's announcement, saying: "I demanded a Labour budget rooted in Labour values and that is what the Chancellor has delivered today.
"This budget means child poverty down, energy bills down, wages up and austerity rejected.
"Thousands of Scottish children lifted out of poverty, £150 off energy bills, £300 for those most in need, increases in the living wage and £820m extra for the Scottish Government.
"That means £10.3bn of additional resources has gone to the Scottish Government since Labour came to power, but we can't have this opportunity squandered by the failing, incompetent and wasteful SNP."
Earlier in November, Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes questioned why Scotland was “missing” half-a-billion pounds after Wales was handed a £547m Local Growth Fund to be allocated by Welsh ministers over three years.
The £820m pledge is therefore not an effort to give Scotland an equivalent fund, given that Wales has been promised another £505m. This is to consist of £320m in resource funding and £185m in capital funding.
In Northern Ireland, the £370m extra consists of £240m in resource funding and £130m in capital funding.
The Scottish Government has been asked for a response.
In the Commons, Reeves went on to list “targeted investments in our industrial strategy sectors across the UK”.
In Scotland, this included “over £14m for low carbon technologies in Grangemouth, £20m to renew infrastructure at Inchgreen in Inverclyde, and £20m to redevelop Kirkcaldy town centre and seafront, with construction starting next year”.
Reeves added: “And that's on top of the UK's biggest ever warship export deal with the Norwegian government to build frigates in Glasgow, supporting 4000 jobs; investment opposed by the SNP, jobs opposed by the SNP, defence opposed by the SNP, but secured by this Labour Government.”
Most of that funding, such as the Kirkcaldy redevelopment, the Grangemouth money, and the frigate deal, had already been announced.
In Northern Ireland, Reeves said the UK Government would be “providing £17m to support businesses and strengthen the UK internal market and backing advanced manufacturing through the Northern Ireland Enhanced Investment Zone”.
She went on: “Wales will be the host for two AI growth zones, creating more than 8000 jobs, supported by a £10m investment in the semiconductors critical for that industry. And we are building the UK's first small modular nuclear reactors with Rolls-Royce at Wilfa in Anglesey.”
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