MPs will this afternoon get the chance to debate education secretary Michael Gove’s decision to end the ring fencing of the schools sports budget. Today, the House of Commons will debate a motion tabled by the Opposition critical of a decision which could see drastic cuts to funding for school sport in the in the run up to the Olympics.
As with all good Budgets, it is only once the dust settles that the implications of the measures announced become clear and Scotland is no exception. Following the publication on Wednesday of the SNP government’s draft Budget, finance secretary John Swinney is facing calls from the main opposition parties to explain to parliament the government’s decision to forego its albeit limited tax varying powers.
In his speech to Scottish Labour’s final conference before next May’s elections to Holyrood, Ed Miliband declared “Labour’s fight back has begun”, but what have we learnt from the weekend on Oban? First, these’s no love lost between the Liberal Democrats and Labour, with Miliband’s deputy Harriet Harman calling Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander a “ginger rodent”.
A spokesman for the SNP has said: “There is no possibility whatsoever of a coalition deal with the Tories at Holyrood now or in the future… To suggest a deal is possible is simply ludicrous and reveals that the Tories still don’t understand how deeply opposed the vast majority of Scots are to what they represent.”
Following reports the MoD budget faces an 8pc cut in Wednesday’s spending review, the SNP’s Angus Robertson says the cuts will be a “calamity for Scotland”.
If the publication of Lord Browne’s review has proved controversial in England, in Scotland the mood music from the SNP Government has been positively frosty.
A new biography of Alex Salmond paints him as a man capable of “explosive rages” whose “merciless criticism” left some of his staff “an emotional train wreck”.
Scottish Labour have dubbed a “disgrace” education secretary Michael Russell’s announcement on class sizes for primary school children in year one.
Alex Salmond has pledged to put his Government’s budget at the heart of the SNP’s programme leading up to next May’s elections to the Scottish Parliament.
The British Medical Association in Scotland has told finance secretary, John Swinney to stop being naive and admit that cuts will have to be made to the NHS north of the border.
