BACK OUR BUDGET OR HAMMER NHS

First Minister's threats about 'shutdown' A

- PAUL HUTCHEON & ANDREW QUINN

JOHN Swinney has warned of the "catastrophic" impact on the NHS of rival parties voting down the SNP government's Budget.

The First Minister said medicines would be rationed and operations cancelled if no deal is struck.

Swinney said: "If party politicking results in the Budget failing to pass, there will be real damage done." Finance Secretary Shona Robison used the draft Budget to announce £2billion extra for the NHS as well as restoring winter fuel payments for up to a million older people.

But Swinney leads a minority government and he needs to do a deal with rivals to get support for the plan to get through Holyrood.

In a New Year speech in Edinburgh, Swinney said the consequences of a "US-style government shutdown" were "severe".