SNP and Reform UK 'have more in common than they would care to admit' in row over Holyrood funding

Daily Record

2 days ago

EXCLUSIVE: Ian Murray has accused both John Swinney and Nigel Farage of wanting to scrap the Barnett Formula that guarantees higher public spending in Scotland.
The SNP and Reform UK"have more in common than they would care to admit", a senior Labour minister has said.
Ian Murray today accused both John Swinney and Nigel Farage of wanting to scrap the Barnett Formula that guarantees higher public spending in Scotland.
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The Scottish Secretary spoke out after Nigel Farage claimed yesterday the funding model for Holyrood was "out of date" and "should be looked at again".
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Murray, MP for Edinburgh South, warned scrapping the system could lead to "Liz Truss on steroids" with massive cuts in spending required.
Currently, the Scottish Government receives an annual block grant from the UK Treasury to spend on devolved areas like the NHS and schools.
The amount of cash sent north to Edinburgh is calculated under a 45-year-old system known as the Barnett Formula. It has been repeatedly criticised by some English MPs as being too generous, as it delivers higher spending per head of population in Scotland than elsewhere in the UK.
But SNP ministers have signalled in recent months their preferred option of financing devolution - short of achieving independence - is full fiscal autonomy.
This would leave Scotland responsible for all its taxation, spending and borrowing, with payments made to the UK Government for certain collective services such as defence.
But critics have warned such a system would raise £12.8 billion less than the Scottish Government currently spends on public services.
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Murray told the Record it was now clear both Reform and the SNP wanted to scrap the Barnett Formula.
"Nigel Farage and John Swinney have more in common than they would care to admit - they both want to impose massive cuts to public spending in Scotland with a £12.8 billion Barnett bombshell," he said.
"Labour's austerity ending budget delivered £50 billion for public services in Scotland. The Barnett Formula guarantees higher public spending per head for Scotland.
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"Both the SNP and Nigel Farage want to end the Barnett Formula. The cost of that would be £12.8 billion to Scotland's public services like our NHS.
"That's the economic mayhem of Liz Truss on steroids. No surprise given Farage was head of the Margaret Thatcher Fan Club.
"It's fantasy economics and Scots will want no part of it."
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It comes after the Record pressed the Reform UK leader on whether he felt public spending in Scotland was too high.
Farage said: said: "The Barnett Formula seems to me to be somewhat out of date. What I'd like to see is a Scottish Government that's able to raise a bit more of its own revenue, and a Scottish economy that has genuine growth.
"And I don't believe that can happen without this sector (North Sea oil and gas) booming.
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"The Barnett Formula goes back to the 1970s. Is there an argument that it should be looked at again? Of course there is.
"But I mean, frankly, frankly, if you look at welfare dependency, if you look at educational standards, the idea, the 50 billion this year, roughly what the figure is going to be, going to Scotland. It isn't going to reduce in the short term until Scotland actually starts to have an economy that is thriving and right now it's going in completely the wrong direction."
The Record has asked the Scottish Government for comment.