The Scottish government expects to pass its budget plans through Holyrood later on Tuesday after the Greens and the Liberal Democrats secured significant extra funding deals in advance of May’s Holyrood election.
The SNP minority government requires the backing of at least one other party to pass its proposals. They were met with criticism from opposition parties and poverty campaigners when they were first set out in January for failing to meet the economic and environmental challenges of Covid recovery.
Unions described the original public sector pay offer as “a slap in the face” for those who had worked on the frontline through the pandemic. The offer was no change to income tax rates and a council tax freeze, both of which benefit wealthier households.
Extra pandemic relief funds were allocated by UK ministers in February and then again at the UK budget earlier this month, giving the Scottish government more flexibility to meet opposition demands before the Holyrood elections on 6 May.
The Scottish Greens, who have backed every SNP budget in the current parliamentary term, have secured emergency relief payments for low-income households hit hardest by the pandemic, an expansion of free school meals into the holidays and to all primary age children by next summer, free bus travel for anyone aged 21 or younger and an enhanced public sector pay deal.
After “detailed and productive” talks, according to the finance secretary, Kate Forbes, the Scottish Liberal Democrats also secured £300m additional funding, including an extra £120m for new community mental health services, £60m to help schools catch up on lost learning and £15m of support for staff retraining in the north-east of Scotland following the downturn in the oil and gas sector.
Forbes said: “From the outset I have stressed that this needs to be a consensual budget to meet Scotland’s needs in these extraordinary times. This example of cross-party work at a time of national emergency reflects well on the Scottish parliament.”
Both the Scottish Greens’ co-leader Patrick Harvie and the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, Willie Rennie, said their interventions showed voters the impact their respective parties had on Scottish government spending priorities.
Harvie said: “This year’s budget cements the impact the Scottish Greens have had on Scotland’s priorities over the last five years.”
Rennie added: “These proposals show the impact that Liberal Democrat MSPs can make, balancing important national matters with targeted local support for our constituents and putting the recovery first.”