Calls for Mackay to announce Scottish budget by mid-November

26 Sep 2018

The Scottish Conservatives are calling on the SNP finance secretary Derek Mackay to bring his budget forward to mid-November to allow more time for parliamentary scrutiny.

Phillip Hammond announced today that the UK budget will be revealed on Monday the 29th of October.

This means if the same three-week period between Scottish and UK budgets was used as in previous years, then the SNP should bring their budget to Holyrood on the 20th of November.

This would allow more time for the budget to be debated and scrutinised, unlike last year when Holyrood went into recess shortly after the SNP’s spending plans were revealed.

Scottish Conservative shadow finance secretary Murdo Fraser MSP said:

“With Philip Hammond having announced his budget date, it means that Derek Mackay can let us know when he plans to announce the SNP’s spending plans.

“Three weeks is more than enough time to prepare his budget, which means he should be revealing his budget by mid-November.

“This would allow Parliament to have far more time to analyse his budget, as opposed in previous years when we’ve had barely any time to study it before recess.

“Any attempt from Derek Mackay to delay his budget beyond this date could only be seen as an attempt to try and avoid thorough parliamentary scrutiny.”