John Swinney warns of 'disruption' to public services if SNP Government Budget voted down

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John Swinney has warned of "disruption" to public services if opposition parties vote down the SNP Government's Budget.

The First Minister said a failure to pass spending plans before the start of the next financial year on April 1 would pose "very real" difficulties.

The Government lacks a majority in Holyrood after Humza Yousaf terminated the Bute House Agreement between the SNP and Greens in April.

The fall-out from that decision cost Yousaf his job and saw Swinney take over as First Minister in charge of a minority administration.

Shona Robison, the Finance Secretary, will set out the Scottish Government's draft spending plans for the year ahead on December 4.

Speaking to reporters in Edinburgh, Swinney fired a warning to opposition MSPs considering voting against the Budget.

"You know the numbers in parliament," he said. "We need other people to assist us to get the Budget through. I'm simply saying, if we don't have enough votes, we don't have a Budget, and there will be a lot of disruption.

"On April 1, there will be no Budget plans which will afford public services at the level the public expect. That's the very real, practical difficulty we face, and I want to avoid that."

Swinney also said he was ready to fight an early election if it became necessary – though this would not automatically take place if the budget Bill fails to pass.

The SNP is expected to be two votes shy of the majority required to pass the Budget when it goes before MSPs in the new year.

The most likely partners are the Scottish Greens or the Liberal Democrats.

But Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Lib Dem leader, has warned his party will vote against the Budget if it contains "one penny" on independence spending.

In a speech at the Royal Society, Swinney made a pitch to other parties to work collaboratively with his government.

“In a Parliament of minorities, no political party is a mere bystander in the Budget process,” he said.

“More appropriately, they should be seen as partners, certainly that is how I have always seen them in my many years of negotiating budget Bills.

“I hope that is how they see themselves.

“Opposition for opposition’s sake is all well and good where governments have comfortable majorities, but put simply, in the Scottish Parliament today, if there is no collaboration, there is no Budget Bill.”

In a message to the other parties in Holyrood, he added: “We can choose to be mired in party politics, or we can choose to put first and foremost our duty to the people we represent.

“We can act with wisdom in the collective good, we can advance the prospects of the people of Scotland, but only if we are prepared to reach agreement to do so.”

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