Latest news with #CraigHoy
Daily Mail
12-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE SNP's debt mountain as cost of Holyrood borrowing soars to record £500m a year!
Taxpayers will have to foot the bill for an eye-watering £500 million of debt run up by John Swinney's SNP government, MailOnline can disclose. Plans to borrow a record amount of money to pay for infrastructure and building projects have led to claims that the SNP is 'mismanaging the nation's finances'. Finance Secretary Shona Robison has promised 'efficient public spending' and also threatened tax rises including a possible wealth tax. But her Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) also revealed plans to borrow millions of pounds, leaving the bill for repayments and interest soaring to an astonishing £499 million a year by 2030/31. The jump in borrowing has sparked accusations that the Finance Secretary is using debt to fund a pre-election spending spree before next year's Holyrood poll. Figures buried in the appendices of the MTFS reveal the ever-rising cost to the public purse of servicing Scotland's growing mountain of debt. This year, the public will have to stump up a record £302 million for repayments and interest on the debt run up by the SNP since 2017, when the Scottish Government was first given borrowing powers. But costs to the taxpayer are set to soar even higher. According to the government's own forecasts, by 2030/31 the bill for repayments and interest will have rocketed to £499 million a year. Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Craig Hoy said: 'The plans for record borrowing tucked away in the small print suggest that the SNP hopes to hand out some sweeties before next year's election. 'It fits in with their abysmally irresponsible record of failing to live within their means. 'We're already paying hundreds of millions just servicing the debts the Nats have run up. Instead of trying to find last minute bribes to keep themselves in office, they should be tackling bloated and wasteful spending, and cutting the tax bill for hard-pressed Scots.' The UK Government last week published an analysis showing that the recent spending review by Chancellor Rachel Reeves would mean an additional £9billion for Scotland, including almost £6 billion extra for Holyrood thanks to higher UK spending on health, as well as £2 billion for education. And Labour's finance spokesman Michael Marra said: 'The SNP is borrowing more and receiving record sums from the Labour government but it's hard to see what we're getting in return. 'Public infrastructure is crumbling and flagship projects are in chaos as a result of the SNP's mismanagement and waste. The truth is the SNP cannot be trusted with public money.' Ms Robison unveiled the MTFS at the end of last month, telling Holyrood: 'Growing the economy is a top priority.' She also pledged reforms 'to increase value for the public purse', with efficiencies and improved productivity in the NHS and across the public sector. Ms Robison also warned of future tax rises, saying: 'We will also take forward work on considering future reform to the tax system, including developing our thinking on longer term issues such as wealth taxation.' Wealth taxes – which are also being discussed at a UK level – are intended to reduce economic inequality by targeting the wealthiest in society. The idea is to tax all, or most of, an individual or household's total net wealth, including assets such as savings, investments and property, rather than just income. Although no specific proposals have been drawn up, such a tax could involve an annual charge levied on the richest based on the value of assets owned. However, Ms Robison's speech to MSPs failed to mention her plans for plunging Scotland further into debt. The scale and cost of the SNP's borrowing is only revealed in the appendices of documents published alongside the minister's statement. Figures show that this financial year Ms Robison is borrowing a record £472 million extra to fund capital projects – taking Scotland's accumulated debt to a total of £2.8 billion. Forecasts show that the country's overall debt will soar to £3.6 billion within five years. A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'By following a fiscally sustainable approach to borrowing, the Scottish Government has been able to maximise capital funding this year, helping deliver new infrastructure and supporting economic growth.'
Daily Mail
07-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Spend our £9bn windfall on fixing broken Scotland's problems, Swinney is urged
has been warned he must use a £9 billion boost from the UK Government to fix the problems created by his party. The First Minister came under intense pressure as the UK Government published details of the windfall from Chancellor Rachel Reeves 's spending review. The breakdown showed almost £6 billion extra for Holyrood thanks to higher UK spending on health and £2 billion from education. Opposition parties demanded the SNP spend the cash on the same priorities - not blow more millions on bureaucracy, waste and dead-end preparations for independence. Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Craig Hoy said: 'Hard-pressed Scots will be furious if the SNP squander the money they now have at their disposal. 'It should be spent on people's real priorities starting with our NHS which is in a state of permanent crisis under the SNP. 'Nationalist ministers have spent 18 years wasting money on their own pet projects and self-indulgent fringe obsessions, rather than what really impacts people's lives. 'Scots can ill-afford for that reckless approach to continue considering they are already paying more and getting less under the SNP.' The Chancellor's spending review on June 11 set out headline figures for day-to-day budgets until 2028/29 and for capital spending until 2029/30. Despite the £9.1 billion extra - which the SNP Government can spend as it chooses - on top of a record £50 billion a year grant, finance secretary Shona Robison said Westminster was 'treating Scotland as an afterthought and failing to provide us with the funding we need'. The 0.8 per cent real terms annual growth in Holyrood's funding meant Scotland had been 'short-changed' by £1.1 billion relative to the rest of the UK, she claimed. In a robust riposte, the Scotland Office yesterday set out how Treasury spending in devolved areas would give Holyrood the £9.1 billion extra through the Barnett funding formula. It showed that by 2030, health spending south of the Border will generate £5.8 billion of 'consequential' funding for Scotland, education £2.1 billion, justice £451 million, housing, communities and local government £380 million and transport £807 million. Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said: 'The UK Government 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 £9.1billion more until the end of the decade. '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 £2billion by spending on education. Many Scots will expect to see better outcomes in their schools and hospitals given this record funding.' Mr Swinney and health secretary Neil Gray have vowed to 'renew' the NHS, but waiting lists, delayed discharges and cancelled operations remain stubbornly high. Around one in six Scots - more than 860,000 people - are waiting for NHS operations, appointments and tests, including more 100,000 waiting more than a year. Figures released last week showed one in 12 operations were cancelled in May last year. The SNP promised to eradicate delayed discharge in 2015, but an average 1,852 hospital beds a day were occupied by people who didn't need them in May, down just 12 on April. A lack of home and community care remains a key factor in patients being stuck on wards. Almost a third of people wait more than the four-hour target to be seen in A&E each week. In education, the attainment gap between well-off and poorer pupils, which the SNP promised to close, continues to widen. The proportion of pupils in the poorest areas getting Higher passes last year was 17.2 percentage points lower than in the most affluent - and even worse for Maths and English, where the gaps were 20.6 and 20.8 points respectively. Scottish Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine said: 'Even with a record funding settlement for the Scottish Government to spend, taxpayers will be feeling apprehensive. 'The SNP love to waste taxpayers' money on poorly managed projects like their wildly over budget ferries or their bungled centralisation of social care and then insist they need to pick people's pockets for more. 'With record funding for health, my constituents will expect to finally see some progress on long waits for care. Health and care are the top priority..' Scottish Labour Deputy Leader Jackie Baillie added: 'John Swinney is presiding over an out of control billion-pound prison project, spending hundreds of millions on a never-ending ferry fiasco and we've got more quangos than MSPs. 'After nearly two decades of the SNP wasting the public's money, Scotland has record NHS waiting lists, 10,000 children with nowhere to call home, a drug deaths crisis, overcrowded prisons and falling education standards. 'They have the money, they have the powers - if they had a plan to fix any of the mess they've created we'd have surely seen it by now.' Finance Secretary Shona Robison said: 'The UK Spending Review document sets out in black and white that our funding for day-to-day spending is set to grow by only 0.8 per cent over the next three years, compared with 1.2 per cent average growth for UK Government departments. This will short-change us by £1.1 billion pounds. 'What's more, we face an estimated £400 million shortfall from the UK Government's failure to fully fund their employer National Insurance increase.'
Daily Mail
08-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
'Sleekit' Swinney slips out £1.7m bill for army of spin doctors during by-election
The First Minister has been dubbed 'sleekit' after the average £100,000 bill for each of his 17 spin-doctors was slipped out under cover of the Hamilton by-election. The 'shameful' details were quietly released as Scotland woke up to Labour shock win over the SNP on Friday. An obscure parliamentary written answer showed taxpayers were charged more than £1.7million for 17 special advisers, known as SpAds, in the last financial year. Appointed by the First Minister, SpAds are temporary civil servants who are not bound by neutrality rules and offer explicit political advice and brief the media. Scottish Tory finance spokesman Craig Hoy said: 'The SNP have wasted a shameful amount of taxpayers' money on their army of spin-doctors. 'You'd be forgiven for thinking sleekit Swinney snuck out these bombshell figures on a day when people's minds were elsewhere.' Labour narrowly won the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse byelection in the early hours of Friday morning by 602 votes, defying expectations that the SNP would hold the seat. The SpAd costs were released via a 'Government inspired question', a device that lets ministers make information public with minimal fanfare. On June 5, the day of the byelection, a question tabled in the name of SNP loyalist Rona Mackay asked the total cost of employing special advisers in 2024/25. The next day, as politicians pored over the result, minister for parliamentary business Jamie Hepburn, who was SNP campaign coordinator in the byelection, replied. He revealed the total cost was £1,745,042, which included salary costs, employer national insurance, and employer pension contributions. Nine SpAds were paid between £71,393 and £78,719, seven between £84,983 and £97,644, and one - most likely chief of staff Colin McAllister - between £108,781 and £116,435. Ministers are currently paid £109,584. When Ms Mackay, the MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, asked the same question last year it was not until September that she received a reply. Scottish Labour deputy Dame Jackie Baillie said: 'Scots are sick of footing the bill for an SNP government that is still failing to deliver. 'And this sleekit attempt to sneak these figures out during a by-election won't hide the fact that the SNP cannot be trusted with taxpayers' money.' Lib Dem MSP Willie Rennie added: 'The SNP are investing more effort in making excuses for their failures in government.' The SpAd bill has more than trebled since the SNP came to power in 2007, when Alex Salmond had seven full-time special advisers costing £566,000. However the cost last year was lower than 2023/24, when Humza Yousaf employed a record 19 SpAds costing £1,906,963. SpAds are exempt from political neutrality rules and can advise ministers on everything from political strategy to speech-writing and policy. Critics believe they have been central to creating a 'secret Scotland' culture within the SNP Government. In 2022, the Scottish Information Commissioner found 'significant and systemic failures' in the way the SNP Government responds to freedom of information (FoI) requests. This included evidence that many FoI responses were sent to SpAds for comment before they were issued. A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'Due to the appointment of a new First Minister in May 2024, there were several changes to the Special Adviser team. 'The number and total cost of special advisers reduced in comparison to the previous year.'
Scottish Sun
30-05-2025
- Health
- Scottish Sun
SNP ministers slammed over pay rises as frontline services set to miss out on £450,000
Tory finance spokesman Craig Hoy accused ministers of 'pulling the wool over people's eyes' 'SHAMELESS SPIN' SNP ministers slammed over pay rises as frontline services set to miss out on £450,000 SNP ministers were slammed over their pay rises - which will see frontline services miss out on almost £450,000. All top Nats have accepted a £19,126 annual boost, apart from John Swinney after he ended their MSP salary freeze introduced in 2009. Advertisement 2 Tory finance spokesman Craig Hoy said John Swinney should apologise Credit: Alamy 2 Ivan McKee boasted an extra £166,000 would be available Credit: Getty The 'minister' add-ons to their wages will still stay the same. Public finance chief Ivan McKee this week boasted this would make an extra £166,000 available for the NHS, schools and councils. But it would have been over £600,000 if the First Minister hadn't approved his team's bumper increases. Social care minister Maree Todd claimed the £439,898-a-year bill for 23 cabinet secretaries and others 'won't cost the public purse a penny'. Advertisement But Tory finance spokesman Craig Hoy said: 'This exposes shameless SNP spin. The rises are a reward for 18 years of failure. 'Ministers tried to pull the wool over people's eyes rather than be straight about how it will hit public services. John Swinney should apologise for this misinformation.' A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'Ministerial and MSP salaries are set and paid by the Scottish Parliament.' We recently told how around one in six Scots are languishing on NHS waiting lists - more than double since the start of the pandemic five years ago. Advertisement Shocking figures reveal 860,925 are hanging on for crucial diagnostic tests such as X-rays, CT and MRI scans, as well as inpatient and outpatient treatment. SNP chiefs were savaged by rivals as the backlog showed no signs of easing, despite pledges from First Minister John Swinney, Nicola Sturgeon and a string of health secretaries that they would fix the NHS. Jenny Gilruth accused of 'playing truant' after her parliament no-show The numbers languishing have increased, hitting 600,000 in June 2021, before rising to 700,000 in March 2022. They hit a record high in June last year just after John Swinney replaced Humza Yousaf in Bute House, with 868,924 forced to wait for tests or appointments. Advertisement The rise comes despite the Scottish Government vowing to cut waits and increase treatment slots in its August 2021 NHS Recovery plan.
Daily Record
28-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Record
Panellists confirmed for Debate Night Hamilton by-election special
Six politicians will appear on the topical show being broadcast from Hamilton a week before the constituency's crunch Holyrood poll The six political panellists taking part in tonight's special Hamilton edition of BBC show Debate Night have been confirmed by programme makers. Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes of the SNP, Conservative MSP Craig Hoy, deputy Labour leader Dame Jackie Baillie, Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton, Green co-leader Lorna Slater and Reform councillor Thomas Kerr will take questions from a studio audience of constituents. It comes a week before voters go to the polls in the intensely-contested Holyrood by-election in the Hamilton, Larkhall & Stonehouse constituency, which follows the death in March of long-serving constituency politician Christina McKelvie. Local voters were previously invited to apply for free tickets to join the studio audience for BBC Scotland's weekly debate show, hosted by Stephen Jardine, to put questions to the political panellists and 'have their say on who should be the next MSP' for the area. The by-election special edition will be broadcast on the BBC Scotland channel at 9pm on Wednesday, May 28, and again on BBC1 at 10.40pm on the same night. It features representatives of six of the record 10 parties and candidates contesting the June 5 election. The full list of candidates standing in the Hamilton, Larkhall & Stonehouse seat is: Collette Bradley (Scottish Socialist Party); Andy Brady (Scottish Family Party); Ross Lambie (Reform); Katy Loudon (SNP); Janice MacKay (UKIP); Ann McGuinness (Green); Aisha Mir (Liberal Democrats); Richard Nelson (Conservative); Davy Russell (Labour); and Marc Wilkinson (independent). Debate Night producers describe the show as 'the only television programme of its kind in Scotland – it gives you the opportunity to put your questions to the country's decision-makers and public figures'. It travels across Scotland each week and has previously been broadcast from Rutherglen in 2023 ahead of that constituency's Westminster by-election, as well as from North Lanarkshire venues at Motherwell and Cumbernauld. * Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
