Scotland confirms £500m in cuts to balance budget

Scotland’s finance secretary Shona Robison has announced up to 500m of spending cuts as she insisted urgent action” was needed to ensure the government can balance its budget.

- KATRINE BUSSEY

Ms Robison said as well as the “direct savings” she was making, she would also “reluctantly” be using up to £460m of cash raised via the ScotWind scheme – where parts of the Scottish seabed are leased out for offshore wind farms.

But she told MSPs at Holyrood: “As we look ahead, it is clear that further significant action will be needed to reset the public finances onto a sustainable path.”

Government departments will be asked to make a further £188m of additional savings, with these coming from across all portfolios, Ms Robison said.

This includes £115.8m of savings from the health and social care budget – though, in a letter to MSPs on Holyrood’s Finance Committee, Ms Robison offered “assurances that the health portfolio will seek to protect key frontline emergency services”.

Elsewhere, spending on transport is down by £23.7m; net zero and energy is reduced by £23.4m; with social justice down £15.7m.

The cuts were revealed as Ms Robison gave a statement updating Holyrood as MSPs returned from their summer recess.