Scottish Finance Secretary requests urgent meeting with Chancellor before Budget

Scotland’s Finance Secretary has requested an urgent meeting with the Chancellor amid reports she will raise taxes in her Budget this month.

Shona Robison set out what she said were three tests Rachel Reeves must meet when she delivers her tax and spending plans on November 26.

They include ditching her fiscal rules and delivering investment “to grow the economy and support people with the cost of living”, ensuring “every penny” raised from any tax rises is reinvested in public services with consequential funding to Scotland and a promise the Budget will not amount to austerity and cuts for Holyrood.

It comes after a pre-Budget speech from the Chancellor in which she failed to rule out tax rises, warning she will have to make “necessary choices” after the “world has thrown more challenges our way”.

Reports later suggested the Chancellor could raise income tax. The Fraser of Allander Institute has estimated a 2p hike could cut Scotland’s budget by £1 billion.

The Finance Secretary said: “The Chancellor’s unexpected Downing Street speech has fuelled speculation and piled uncertainty on uncertainty about Labour tax hikes in the upcoming UK Budget, with a potential price tag of £1 billion for Scotland.

“Let me be clear: Scotland should not be left paying the price for Labour’s broken promises.”

Ms Robison said last year’s Budget was a “disaster” for the Chancellor, “taxing jobs, (the) vulnerable and doing nothing on child poverty”.

She said she had requested an urgent meeting with her, where she would set out her three tests.

She said: “This year, I am setting three tests the UK Budget must meet – and the first is that the Chancellor must ditch her outdated, restrictive fiscal rules.  The era in which these rules were set is over and Rachel Reeves must face up to the new reality.

“And crucially, every single penny raised from any Labour tax rises must be invested into public services with consequential funding for Scotland.

“Rachel Reeves must also confirm that Scotland will not see our funding cut as a result of Labour decisions.

“They came to office promising an end to austerity, so to impose it on Scotland would be a political betrayal from which Labour would never recover.

“I have requested an urgent meeting with the Chancellor and will be clear to her that her Budget must meet these three key tests.

“But the chaos and confusion coming out of the UK Government this week is just confirmation that Scotland shouldn’t be leaving crucial decisions about our finances in the hands of incompetent Westminster governments – these decisions should be in Scotland’s hands, with the fresh start of independence.”

An HM Treasury spokesperson said: “Our record funding settlement for Scotland will mean over 20% more funding per head than the rest of the UK.

“We have also confirmed £8.3 billion in funding for GB Energy-Nuclear and GB Energy in Aberdeen, up to £750 million for a new supercomputer at Edinburgh University, and are investing £452 million over four years for City and Growth Deals across Scotland.

“This investment is all possible because our fiscal rules are non-negotiable, they are the basis of the stability which underpins growth.”