KATE Forbes has set aside £ 20m for a second independence referendum next year, despite warning of major cuts in public sector spending in Scotland.
Labor accused the government of wasting money “in a split referendum while cutting local services to the bone”.
But the Scottish Greens defended the decision, accusing opposition parties of “deliberate misunderstanding of how democracy works”.
Speaking to Holyrood, while outlining the Scottish government’s spending spending review, the finance secretary warned that Scotland was facing an “unprecedented cost-of-living crisis”.
Ms Forbes told MSPs that there had been a “5.2% reduction in real terms between last year and this one” in the money available to ministers.
He added: “Our funding in real terms only grows by 2% over the entire four – year period, after taking into account the transfer of social security benefits.
“It simply came to our notice then.
“But it is not inevitable, it is the result of a deliberate election by the UK government as they sit in their hands.
“While the chancellor has given welcome, albeit limited, support to households, the cold winds of conservative austerity are blowing in terms of spending on utilities.”
According to the IFS think tank, budgets for local government, police, prisons, the judiciary, universities and rural affairs will fall by around 8%, the equivalent of a cut in real terms of 1,100 millions of pounds from these spending areas over four years. .
The budget for business, tourism and trade promotion is expected to be reduced by 16% in real terms over the next four years.
While funding for the Health and Social Care portfolio will increase by 0.6% annually in real terms over the next four years, this, according to the think tank, “is much slower than is required to cover the increase. of costs and demand for services “.
However, the detailed budget for spending on Constitution, Foreign Affairs and Culture revealed that Mrs Forbes had set aside £ 20 million for a vote on independence.
The total expenditure of the department will remain at £ 294 million, except for 2023/24, when indyref2 funding will increase to £ 314 million.
Conservative MSP Douglas Lumsden said the SNP government was “nothing if not predictable”.
He said: “They present data showing that their fiscal policies are failing and their spending is out of control.”
Lumsden told MSPs that there was a £ 3.5bn black hole in government funding in 2026-27 and that the SNP was trying to “pass responsibility to the UK government”.
He added: “With the public finances in this mess, the Cabinet Secretary does not agree with me that the £ 20 million allocated for another division independence referendum is a slap in the face for so many Scottish workers. who have to pay more and get less? ”
The minister did not respond to a comment on the vote on the constitution, but said Lumsden had not based his question on the facts before him.
He said he and other Conservative MSPs, on warning of a £ 3.5bn black hole, were citing obsolete figures.
“You can’t have unbalanced spending plans in a decentralized arrangement where I can only spend what I raise.”
Ms Forbes said Conservatives should “press their UK government colleagues to increase funding for the Scottish budget”.
Following the statement to Parliament, Scottish Labor Finance spokesman Daniel Johnson said: “Scots are on the verge of being hit by the worst drop in elimination cash since records began, but the SNP has nothing to offer except empty rhetoric and the same twist as always.
“Fifteen years of failed SNP economic policy have brought us to this point, and this terrible upgrade promises more of the same.
“They are cutting back on economic development as our economy falls off a cliff and wastes £ 20m in a split referendum as they cut local services to the bone.”
Scottish Greens MSP Ross Greer told The National: “Both the Scottish Greens and the SNP have pledged an independence referendum on our manifests for the May 2021 election.
“Our parties together won more votes than the three anti-referendum parties together, which is the normal measure of who won the election.
“Our shared commitment to a referendum was reaffirmed in the August 2021 Bute House Agreement that brought the Greens into government.
“The Scottish government has a clear mandate to fund this referendum and through it the people of Scotland will determine our future. It’s really quite simple.”
Pamela Nash, Scotland’s executive director at Union, said: “This is a waste of public money at a time when our NHS is desperate for resources and households are facing a cost-of-living crisis.
“SNP politicians are completely out of touch with the people of Scotland.
“Polls after polls have confirmed that the overwhelming majority of voters in Scotland do not support Nicola Sturgeon’s timetable for a second division referendum on the UK’s exit next year.
“Instead of obsessing over their negative campaign to divide Scotland, ministers should focus on fixing the mess they have made of our public services.”
The 2014 referendum cost the government £ 15.8 million, most of which went to providing counting officers in Scotland.