John Swinney challenged to fix Scots NHS and schools with £5.8bn cash boost from Rachel Reeves
John Swinney has been challenged to improve public services after it was revealed Holyrood will receive an extra £5.8 billion in funding as a result of the recent Westminster Spending Review.
Rachel Reeves announced last month the UK Government would plough billions more into the NHS across England, a move which triggers additional cash for Scotland via the Barnett formula.
Ian Murray, the Scottish Secretary, said today the Spending Review guaranteed a total of £9.1 billion of extra funding for the Scottish Government.
The £5.8 billion figure is a direct result of a rise in health spending and will be spread across the financial years between 2026/27 and 2029/30.
It comes on top of the highest real terms block grant settlement in the history of devolution at the autumn budget, worth £50 billion a year.
The additional money will form part of the annual block grant awarded to the Scottish Government from the UK Treasury, with Holyrood ministers left to decide how to allocate it.
Murray said: "The UK Government's Plan for Change has delivered the largest real terms settlement for the Scottish Government since devolution began in 1999, and ensured a definitive end to austerity in Scotland with £9.1 billion more for the Scottish Government until the end of the decade.
"That's £9.1 billion over and above record real terms budgets. That's more money than ever before for the Scottish Government to invest in Scottish public services like our NHS, police, housing and schools.
"It is for the Scottish Government to determine how it spends this money. It is notable, however, that almost £6 billion of additional funding has been generated by Health spending, and over £2 billion has been generated by spending on education. Many Scots will expect to see better outcomes in their schools and hospitals given this record funding."
Shona Robison, the SNP Finance Secretary, previously blasted the Spending Review as "business as usual from the UK Government, which is yet again treating Scotland as an afterthought".
She added: "The settlement for Scotland is particularly disappointing, with real terms growth of 0.8% a year for our overall Block Grant, which is lower than the average for UK Departments. Had our resource funding for day-to-day priorities grown in line with the UK Government's overall spending, we would have £1.1 billion more to spend on our priorities over the next three years. In effect, Scotland has been short-changed by more than a billion pounds.
"This all comes on top of the UK Government's failure to fully fund their employer National Insurance increase, depriving us of hundreds of millions of pounds in funding, and their proposed cuts in support for disabled people that will push 250,000 people into poverty, including 50,000 children.
'It is also disappointing that despite apparent briefing to media in advance, we are still awaiting clarity on funding for the vital Acorn project in the North East of Scotland."
The Record asked the Scottish Government for comment.
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Ian Blackford was SNP MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber from 2015 to 2024, and served as the party's Westminster leader from 2017 to 2022.
