Swinney to warn opposition of fuelling populism if Scottish budget not passed
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Scottish Labour, Greens and Lib Dem MSPs accuse first minister of ‘creating false narrative’. John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, will warn opposition parties that they will fuel populist forces if they prevent his budget from being passed this month.
In a keynote speech in Edinburgh on Monday to mark the new year, Swinney will say Scottish voters would be astonished and public services damaged if MSPs fail to allow the budget to go through. “We do not have to look far beyond Scotland’s shores to see what happens when politicians and political parties pursue stalemates instead of progress and delivery,” he is expected to say. “It feeds cynicism and disillusion.
“If people do not see Scotland’s parliament delivering progress for Scotland’s people – if instead it embarks down a path of political posturing and intransigence – then we run a real risk of feeding the forces of anti-politics and of populism.”.
Swinney’s Scottish National party runs a minority government after his predecessor, Humza Yousaf, collapsed a power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens. It has 62 MSPs, three short of a majority. His remarks were met by derision from opposition parties, who had been briefed on the speech in advance. They said there was no risk the budget, boosted by a record Treasury grant that Labour estimates is worth £5.2bn, would be blocked.
