NEW Budget cash coming to Scotland will not be used to scrap the two-child cap on benefits or the winter fuel allowance means test, according to the SNP today.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has set out plans that would see an additional £1.5 billon coming to Scotland this year and another £3.4bn from April.
But as SNP Finance Secretary Shona Robison pores over the settlement in the run-up to setting out her own draft Budget on December 4, she told BBC Radio Scotland that “austerity will continue for those impacted by the two-child cap, and also the loss of the winter fuel payment.”
She said: “Let’s be clear, the money we have received is largely for the NHS and for front-line public services.
“This does not give us a huge area of headroom to spend on other things.
“The money is directly for services and front-line public services, so any money that I divert into other things will be money from the NHS or other front-line services, so we have to be quite careful here.
“This isn’t a bonanza that allows us to spend money on mitigating, as we have done, largely mitigated a lot of Westminster welfare policies, but we can’t continue to mitigate.
“We are already spending, I think it is about £130 million at the last count, mitigating welfare policies from Westminster like the bedroom tax, for example.
“We have the Scottish child payment which we fund which helps those children who are living in poverty.”
She called for “clarity” on whether the costs of increased employers National Insurance was included in the settlement.
Ms Robison continued: “We absolutely need to see those costs fully covered, because they could add up to the £500 million in costs for the public sector unless it is fully funded.”
Speaking later on same programme, Ms Reeves responded: “The challenge now for the SNP in Scotland is to use that money wisely to start reducing waiting times, because, you know, frankly, the performance of the NHS in Scotland under the SNP is worse than in any part of the United Kingdom, and that money now needs to be used to address the priorities of the Scottish people.
“Talking to Scottish MPs yesterday in Parliament, this settlement was very welcome, the biggest settlement in the history of devolution.
“The Scottish government now need to deliver.”
