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The Scottish Government have led calls urging the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, to invest to help support growth rather than make cuts to the UK Budget.
It is expected in Reeves’s announcement of the budget today, Wednesday, there will be a sleuth of cuts as Labour aims to plug a £22 billion “black hole”, which they claim was left by the previous Tory administration.
Speaking to business leaders at a reception with the Scottish Chambers of Commerce on Tuesday the First Minister, John Swinney, said he wants to see a commitment to funding public services to help grow Scotland’s “economic opportunities”.
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He said: “It takes political willpower to adapt and evolve our economies and grow thriving societies in all four nations – something the Chancellor can signal by including steps to advance the Acorn carbon capture and storage project in the UK Budget, which would provide new opportunities for workers in the oil and gas sector in Grangemouth and in other parts of Scotland.”
The First Minister added: “The Chancellor has the chance to choose to deliver a UK Budget that invests in our public services and supports the entrepreneurial spirit displayed in Scotland’s business sector.
“With these new rules in place, the Chancellor must use the fiscal headroom they create to deliver a Budget that immediately and significantly enhances Scotland’s resource and capital funding, enabling us to invest more in our public services and take forward the vital infrastructure projects that support economic growth, net zero, and action to tackle child poverty.”
Along with Swinney’s calls for investment Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) have demanded an end to austerity.
STUC, which is Scotland’s largest trade union body, have also “implored” the Chancellor to leave “no stone unturned” in raising revenue for Scotland’s public services.
Roz Foyer, general secretary for STUC, said: “This Labour budget must bring an end to austerity. The Chancellor simply must not return to the failed, Tory economic model of public spending cuts.”
She added: “Scotland must not be an afterthought. Any and all Barnett consequentials must be passed down to the Scottish Government and further redistributed to those most in need throughout the country.”
Foyer ended her message to the Chancellor as she said: “The Labour Party promised a government of change. Come tomorrow [Wednesday]it’s time to show it.”
The Scottish Greens have also said the Labour Government must tax the super-rich and polluters to help fund a green transition and tackle the climate emergency.
The party’s co-leader, Lorna Slater, has urged the Chancellor to apply a wealth tax on the wealthiest 1% of households in the UK – those with assets worth £3.4 million and above.
Analysis from the University of Greenwich suggests that this tax would raise over £70 billion a year and potentially up to £130bn.
Slater said: “The world is burning around us. We urgently need to see climate leadership from Downing Street.
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“There is more than enough money to support our transition to a greener future and create thousands of high quality, well paid green jobs, but so much of it is being hoarded by a tiny number of extremely wealthy people who don’t need it.
“The solution is staring us right in the face. By asking the richest people and corporations to pay their fair share we can transform our economy and protect future generations.”