Lack of recent meetings with Treasury an ‘issue of concern', says Swinney
Rachel Reeves will lay out her spending priorities on Wednesday, with funding increases expected for the NHS and education – which will result in greater cash for Scotland.
But speaking to the PA news agency in Glasgow on Monday, First Minister John Swinney said his Finance Secretary Shona Robison had not recently spoken to the Treasury about the Scottish Government's requests for the review.
'The Finance Secretary has had discussions with the Chief Secretary, but not recently,' he said.
Finance Secretary Shona Robison (Andrew Milligan/PA)
'That's been an issue of concern to us that there hasn't been an ongoing dialogue.
'I raised our aspirations about the spending review with the Prime Minister when I met him a couple of weeks ago in London and have set out, particularly, the importance of the investment in public services and the necessity of that decision on the Acorn carbon capture and storage project, because that is crucial for us finding a way forward to address some of the challenges that we faced at the Grangemouth site.'
The Acorn project has been overlooked for funding by successive UK Governments, angering Scottish ministers.
As well as Acorn, Mr Swinney also urged the Chancellor to commit to lifting the two-child benefit cap.
'After all the year's of Conservative austerity, I want to see a decision to lift the two-child cap from the benefit system, which is forcing more and more families into poverty and children into poverty,' he said.
The Scottish Government has pledged to mitigate the impact of the two-child cap north of the border, but has consistently pushed for the policy to be scrapped at UK level.
The First Minister also pushed for a 'different approach on welfare reform', after the UK Government announced a £5 billion cut to benefits earlier this year.
The Treasury has been contacted for comment.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Powys County Times
11 minutes ago
- Powys County Times
Six candidates in Powys Council by-election in Llanidloes
SIX candidates will be contesting the Llanidloes by-election next month, including one former council heavyweight. The deadline for candidate nominations was late on Friday afternoon, June 6 and the election is set to take place on Thursday, July 3. Canvassing is already in full swing as candidates and their supporters pounded the streets of Llanidloes looking for votes over the weekend. The election follows the resignation of veteran councillor Liberal Democrat Gareth Morgan last month, after more than 50 year representing the town in both the 1974 to 1996 and current version of Powys County Council. All mainstream political parties in Wales have put a candidate forward with two of them having served as county councillors in the past. Former cabinet member for education Phyl Davies, who represented the Blaen Hafren ward between 2017 and 2022, has thrown his hat in the ring for the Conservative party. His Tory predecessor in the now extinct Blaen Hafren ward from 2012 to 2017, Graham Jones will be standing on the Reform UK ticket. Applications to register to vote need to reach Powys County Council's electoral registration officer by midnight on June 17. Applications for a postal votes need to be made to the council's electoral registration officer by 5 pm on Wednesday, June 18. The deadline for application to vote by proxy is 5pm on Wednesday, June 25. Applications can be made online by visiting –
The Guardian
14 minutes ago
- The Guardian
What does the change to the winter fuel payment mean?
After months of speculation the government has announced that it will reinstate the winter fuel payment to most pensioners in England and Wales. Under the new rules, any pensioner with an income of up to £35,000 a year will be eligible for the full allowance, while anyone on more will have to pay back their share. The payment is worth £200 a year to households where both pensioners are aged under 80 years old, and £300 if there is a person aged 80 or over. A pensioner aged 85 who lives alone will get £300, as will a couple of the same age. The new system will mean these payments are made automatically to those receiving a state pension. There will be no need to claim the money. No. The threshold applies to individuals, not households. A couple who qualify for a £200-a-year payment will get £100 each. If one has an income of more than £35,000 a year and the other does not, the higher earner will have £100 clawed back while the other one is allowed to keep the money. In a couple where one person is aged 80, they will receive £200 and the other will receive £100. The person over 80 will repay £200 if their income is more than £35,000. This will create some quirks. A single pensioner, living alone, will repay the full £200 or £300 if their income is more than £35,000, while a couple with an income of £69,000 would keep all the money. Two households with the same incomes and one person aged over 80 could have to repay different sums depending on whether it is the older or younger person who receives more than £35,000. For most pensioners, money will be taken through the pensioner's tax code and applied to their income the next year. Those who already file a tax return for other reasons may find it is added to it, but it is not yet clear if that will be the case. The same is true when someone dies. The government says it will not make families do a return or pursue them for the winter fuel payment. However, if they have to do a return for someone who has died for other reasons, it is not clear if they will have to declare the payment. There is a potential for problems if someone retires part-way through a tax year and earns more than £35,000 because they are still getting their salary, then drops well below that the next year – they will be faced with repaying the payment when they are on a lower income. No. The new means-testing will take into account income only, not savings or the value of any property. A person with £1m in the bank would still qualify for the payment with an income less than £35,000. The Scottish government gives out a pension-age winter heating payment. Last winter this was restricted to only those people who qualified for one of a handful of benefits including pension credit. This will change next winter, and the payment will be given more widely. Northern Ireland has a winter fuel payment and seems likely to move in line with England and Wales.
The National
15 minutes ago
- The National
Former SNP MP's critique of UK defence review was a missed opportunity
At the Royal United Services Institute members' briefing on the defence review, which I attended, it was pretty clear that many saw the review as an uncosted shopping list, a pick and mix of wares on offer from the UK's defence industries that the government could buy into, or not, depending what, at a future date, the Treasury thought could or could not be afforded. READ MORE: Skye power line approved despite council and resident objections New, more relevant threats were referenced, of course. Though how the existing products on offer from the UK's defence industry will square with actual future security needs, rather than the Russian Bogey, is not clear. Indeed, even on the day of publication the chief of the defence staff did point out that the actual lacklustre performance of Russian forces in Ukraine should be factored into future thinking. Martin's article was rather a useful comment on what Dominic Cummings thought of the modus operandi of the MoD. A critique of the review and its relevance for the future – particularly that of an independent Scotland's security future – it was not. Scotland and SNP policy got one sentence, in an article of more than 800 words. What he didn't do was offer a strategy of how the dog's breakfast of the review could be used as an opportunity to promote current SNP defence policy and develop it further in the future. READ MORE: Scotland's top doctor warns of greatest threat to health this century His mention of the clapped-out Vanguards was tangential and treated as a symptom of poor long-term planning, rather than a critique of Britain's reliance on Donald Trump. Mark Felton's widely viewed 'Rented Missiles & Worn Out Submarines' YouTube presentation of two months ago, now with more than 600,000 views, is rather more relevant contains within it some positive points of real electoral salience for the SNP. After all, positive, salient aspects of defence and security should be the drivers of SNP defence policy rather than the thicket of weeds that act as cover to a broken defence policy of a broken Britain. Bill Ramsay Convener, SNP CND THE independence movement is at a tipping point, and deepening despondency must reign in the long-stifled rank-and-file of the SNP. In perpetual deference to their high heid yins, they have permitted culture-war distractions, personality cults and parasitic alliances to obscure their core vision of a better life for citizens and their children in a new post-Union, post-colonial reality. They have seen their hard work and contributions, financial and otherwise, railroaded and dissipated by a recent leadership characterised by indolent complacency or cowardice of conviction. READ MORE: What's going wrong inside the SNP? Activists share all The cause of Scottish emancipation from colonial exploitation is not a vainglorious, ill-thought-out enterprise but rather an internationally acknowledged 'glorious revolution' in British politics whose wellsprings are popular sovereignty and direct democracy. The SNP 'strategists' have at best presented an anaemic dilution of these noble principles or collaborated consciously or unconsciously with Westminster politicians of every stripe to undermine them. Who but a reunited popular and political movement in Scotland can save our fellow citizens from the warmongering, corporate-captured, Lino (Labour In Name Only) party that consort and acquiesce to globalist elites rather than their own people? Who can blame decent Scottish and English brothers and sisters from seeking hope from the ultimately false prophets of Reform UK rather than 'Remove UK'? In Scotland, who is going to champion these folk? It is clear to me that a cohesion-seeking independence convention is required as a matter of national urgency where the SNP, Alba, all the factions of the independence movement and importantly all the as-yet-unconvinced but open-minded can meet eyeball to eyeball to form a national vision for our children and grandchildren. The first step must be for SNP grassroot members to signal their 'brotherhood' with the Alba party and non-aligned comrades rather than their effete and sadly incompetent erstwhile leaders, regardless of how 'steady' or 'safe' they may have appeared. Dr Andrew Docherty Selkirk AMAZINGLY, 10 MONTHS on from the Westminster government's announcement to withdraw the Winter Fuel Payment, Scottish Questions and Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons were dominated by this issue once again. The Labour government at Westminster has given some snail-paced hint of a U-turn on the withdrawal, but no firm commitment as yet. This would be very welcome. However, pensioners here in Scotland already have an assurance from the Scottish Government they will receive the WFP and will not be left out in the cold this winter awaiting the Labour government's decision. Catriona C Clark Falkirk
