THE VOTE to pass Scotland’s annual Budget is soon approaching. My party, Scottish Labour, has indicted it intends to abstain. This means the Budget is all but guaranteed to pass in February.

I would love to say this spells good news for councils, the NHS and workers across Scotland but the hard reality is that cuts are on the way, many of which were avoidable. There are many external factors contributing to that but government decisions from both London and Edinburgh are not helping. 

Based on the conversations I have when out speaking to communities and the organisations that sustain them, we need the Budget to pass in order to avoid instability during fraught economic times, yet we must work more constructively to avoid this situation arising every year. This Budget has to be seen as a missed opportunity by the Scottish government to push forward with investment in public services and to give many of our poorest areas much-needed funding.