10-07-2025
Minister pans 'nonsense' Tory claim SNP are punishing Unionist voters
David Mundell, the MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale, and Tweeddale and a former Scottish secretary, said during Scotland Questions at Westminster on Wednesday that the SNP has 'cynically and systematically deprived funding from areas that do not support independence', such as the Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway.
In response, Scottish Secretary Ian Murray claimed 'the whole of Scotland voted against independence in 2014' and accused the SNP of 'starving' the country's public services.
Public Finance Minister Ivan McKee has hit back at Mundell's claims calling them 'completely false'.
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'These claims are total nonsense and completely false. The needs-based formula used to distribute the funding available for local government is agreed with Cosla on behalf of all 32 local authorities each year,' he said.
"The Scottish Government has provided councils with a record £15 billion this year, a real terms increase of 5.5%.
'In 2025-26, NHS Boards will receive increased investment in their baseline funding, bringing total investment to over £16.2 billion.''
The Conservatives have previously faced their own allegations of 'pork-barrel politics' – where Tory-supporting areas are given more government support than opposition-supporting ones in a bid to shore up votes.
Writing in 2020 of Boris Johnson's 'Towns Fund', professor of politics Chris Hanretty said: 'There is robust evidence that ministers chose towns so as to benefit the Conservatives in marginal Westminster seats.'
In 2023, the SNP also raised concerns that levelling up funding in Scotland had disproportionately gone to Tory-supporting areas.
Dumfries and Galloway council is currently controlled by the SNP, after the Tory administration collapsed before a no-confidence vote in June.
The Scottish Borders council is also controlled by the Conservatives.
In May, the Accounts Commission warned that all of Scotland's councils were facing a combined budget shortfall of £647 million in 2025/26.
'Whilst councils have partly met this shortfall through service savings and increased charges for services, continuing to use reserves and make one-off savings isn't sustainable,' the commission said.
