THE newly re-elected SNP government’s public-sector reform plans are “austerity in a yellow rosette,” the Scottish TUC warned today.

Deputy First Minister Jenny Gilruth has warned that her colleague Ivan McKee — in the newly minted role of public service reform secretary — would be “driving some of the efficiency” needed to tackle the gap.

“If you look again in the budget, we set out portfolio efficiency savings targets,” she said.

“Cabinet secretaries had to go through a period of considering where savings might come from, so all of that work has already been undertaken.”

She added that this will “undoubtedly” mean cuts.

Writing in the Herald newspaper, STUC general secretary Roz Foyer said: “These cuts aren’t a secret. 

“Under the guise of reform, the SNP plan to cut the public-sector workforce by 0.5 per cent in this parliament. 

“The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates this would amount to cutting 18,000 public-sector jobs over the next five years. 

“By any standard, this is austerity wrapped up in a yellow rosette.”

The announcement comes after then finance secretary Shona Robison admitted in January that plans to bridge a deficit, predicted by the Auditor General to balloon to £4.7 billion by 2029-30, would be met in part by slashing 11,000 posts through “natural attrition.”

Scottish Labour finance spokesman Michael Marra said: “There is now a dedicated minister for cuts in this SNP government, but the Deputy First Minister still is still keeping Scots in the dark about where those cuts will fall.

“The SNP must come clean about how it is going to fix the mess.”