
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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SNP transition fund spends £43m on just 110 jobs for oil workers
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The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
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The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
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We ought to be focusing on how to turbocharge economic growth as a source of tax receipts, using growth receipts to invest in public spending and, over the longer term, seeking to pay down debt. What is missing is a material programme to drive up growth and investment. Where is the sense of urgency that recognises an acceleration of growth over a sustained period is the only way of improving finances and allowing for the investment in public services we all want to see? It is the lack of consistent, material economic growth over the last 17 years that led to increased Government spending as a shock absorber for the financial crisis, Covid, and the impact of the cost of living. That is what has resulted in today's high-debt, high-tax outcome. Heaven help us if we face another external shock, given UK PLC's balance sheet. I shudder to think how the UK could finance another Covid-style crisis. When Labour was last in power from 1997 to 2010, reasonable economic growth allowed for public sector investment to grow without increasing Government spending as a percentage of GDP. Indeed, the ratio fell from 37.4% of GDP to 36.3% of GDP between 1997 and 2007. The financial crisis of 2008 saw the Government having to stand behind the financial system, and by 2010 the debt ratio had increased to 70.3%. It has climbed continuously since, reaching 96.4% in May 2025, a record for any May, up from 95.9% the previous year. Never mind the ratio. Our debt now sits at a mouth-watering £2,867 billion and results in debt servicing costs of over £100 billion. That is a lot of cash that could have been invested in public services. International comparisons make clear that investors impose a risk premium on UK debt. The current 10-year UK Government gilt yield is 4.5%. In Germany, it is 2.6%. In Switzerland, a modest 0.4%. Our neighbour Ireland has a rate of 2.8%. We are paying a price for the perception of investors of a lack of financial competence. We make jokes about Liz Truss and her cataclysmic approach to financial management, but her predecessors and successors hardly earn an A-plus. The financial markets have delivered their judgment on UK PLC. We are all paying the price. High interest rates crowd out public spending and also have a knock-on effect for business borrowers. The UK pays a premium and a higher cost of capital — additional costs that feed into higher prices. If I were the Chancellor, I would be concentrating not just on the budget for the coming year but on addressing the structural weaknesses that are self-evident in the UK. Hoping for growth will not do. For the public, the catastrophic failure to deliver an economic policy that supports sustainable growth has meant declining living standards. The last Westminster Parliament was the first in the post-war period during which living standards fell. I would not bet on this Parliament delivering a different outcome. It is little wonder the Tories paid a price at the UK General Election. But what next if Labour fails to deliver in this Parliamentary cycle? With an increasingly discontented population, the potential for populist parties is plain to see. The rise of Reform ought to worry all of us in the mainstream parties. The threat of a Reform government cannot be discounted. What does this mean for Scotland? For the SNP Government, whose budget is largely based on Barnett consequentials, it means an ongoing squeeze on real-terms spending. The 2026 election will largely focus on devolved responsibilities, but the capacity to deliver over the next Parliament will be constrained by the UK financial settlement. Politics ought to be about hope. The SNP can seize the opportunity to paint a landscape showing how things could be different in Scotland. I have previously argued for the establishment of an industrial council. It is much needed. Or, if one is not to be established, the SNP at the very least needs to set out how it will drive a step change in investment, jobs, and growth. We have the opportunity to drive economic opportunity from our massive potential in green energy. Not green energy in itself, but using that power to create a sustainable green industrial future — building on our strategic opportunity to create a competitive advantage from affordable green energy. Doing our bit for net zero while creating the circumstances for a sustainable increase in economic growth. When we talk about independence, it is not about an abstract concept. It is about transforming life chances. More of the same within the UK — low growth and public services under pressure — can be broken. The SNP needs to spell out how it can change the landscape and unlock economic growth by harnessing our natural resources and, of course, our human capital. There is a better way. It is up to our leaders to chart it. 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.