The Scottish Parliament has voted to back the draft Budget at stage one, passing the Budget (Scotland) (No.5) Bill with 65 votes to 30 and 24 abstentions on Thursday. The approval came after the Scottish Government struck a deal with the Scottish Liberal Democrats, who secured concessions worth just under £300 million for social care, hospices, and business rates.
The agreement marks a critical step in the legislative process. Finance Secretary Shona Robison proposed the bill, which now moves forward after the Liberal Democrats negotiated specific provisions for key sectors including hospitality and self-catering businesses.
Jamie Greene, the Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP who negotiated the deal, outlined the party's approach in the chamber at First Minister's Questions. «I did also make it clear that we needed to see more for hospices, for care providers, for hospitality and self catering all crying out for more support,» he said. Greene calculated the concessions as «just shy of £300 million for Liberal Democrat priorities» and explained: «Why? Because we chose to negotiate properly and get things done so we will support the Budget this afternoon.»
Scottish Labour announced its abstention despite welcoming some business rates changes. Finance spokesman Michael Marra predicted the Budget «will not last the year» and called for an emergency budget. He argued: «The fact remains that this SNP Government will never take the bold decisive action needed to fix what they have broken in our country – the real opportunity for change will be on May 7, when we finally kick out this knackered SNP Government and choose a new direction for Scotland with Scottish Labour.»
Party reactions
The Scottish Greens also abstained but left the door open for further negotiations. Co-leader Ross Greer said: «I announced earlier today that the Greens will be abstaining in the Budget.» He positioned his party as willing to push for more change, stating: «I am proud of what we've achieved so far, I do believe that agreement is possible with the Government, but our job is to be a challenger, our job is to push the Government to go further, often to push the Government to go outside of its comfort zone, because we know that change is still needed.»
The Scottish Conservatives delivered sharp criticism. Craig Hoy argued the Budget «does not add up» for Scottish taxpayers, councils, the NHS, and businesses. «It does not add up for Scottish taxpayers, with more people dragged into ever higher tax under the SNP,» he said, adding that councils face «brutal cuts and blistering increases in council tax» despite the additional £20 million found for social care.
Hoy warned that «by the end of this decade, one in three Scots will be paying the SNP's higher rates of tax, a tax intended for the few, now being paid by the many.» He criticized the SNP's approach: «Yet again the SNP are reaching for the only lever they ever pull, clobbering middle income earners with higher income tax bills.»
The Budget is expected to pass Holyrood in the coming weeks. The next Scottish government election is scheduled for May 7.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
