Swinney urges Scottish Parliament to pass Budget of ‘delivery and hope’
Share:
Scotland’s First Minister will urge opposition parties to back a Scottish Government Budget offering “delivery and hope” in his first speech of the new year. John Swinney will say that the draft Budget, set out by Scotland’s Finance Secretary Shona Robison in December, marks a turning point and is a foundation to build a Scotland fit for the coming decades.
With the SNP in a minority administration at Holyrood, Ms Robison and Mr Swinney need at least one other party to back the draft Budget for it to pass. It is expected to be voted on in the coming weeks and the First Minister will urge others to back it to “make progress for Scotland”.
Mr Swinney will give his first speech of 2025 in Edinburgh on Monday to representatives from organisations across the public and private sectors. He is expected to say: “There is nothing wrong in Scotland that can’t be fixed by what is right in Scotland.
“Yes, we’ve had a tough few years – but we have got what it takes to build our nation and transform our prospects, step by step, if we are willing to put our collective shoulder to the wheel. “We know what needs to be done to make progress for Scotland, and we took a massive step forward in delivering that progress with the draft Budget, published last month.
“It was a foundation – a platform on which to build a Scotland fit not just for the coming year, but for the coming decades. It is a Budget that marks a turning point. “With this Budget, I want the people of Scotland to hear loud and clear my twin commitment to delivery and hope. Delivery in the present, hope for the future.
