Thread by @DeanMThomson

Thread on the 'audit of the Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts'. This audit report covers 90% of the budget approved by Holyrood Parliament.

Highlighting false or misleading statements by Nicola Sturgeon and Ian Blackford and setting them against audit realities
[1/20

▶️First minister claims no spare money for covid business relief:
"We’ve found £100m out of fixed Budget, having to take that from elsewhere…every penny we now take, I don’t know where you think I should take it from. The health service? education budget? Justice budget?"
[2/20

👉The reality

The audit for financial year 2020/21 however reveals an underspend of £580m.

"Overall, total spending was £580 million less than budget."
[3/20

Breaking this down it reports "The resource budget was underspent by £373 million (0.8 per cent) against a budget of £48,573 million and capital was underspent by £207 million (9.7 per cent) against a budget of £2,128 million."
[4/20

So while Nicola Sturgeon claims the £100m had to be taken from "elsewhere", it raises the question, 'did it come from budget flexibility derived from a £580m underspend from 2020/21?' In which case, she surely has more flexibility than she is letting on.
[5/20

👉And the first minister can't claim the whole underspend of £580m is just down to timings of Barnett consequentials either...

For example, the Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity portfolio specifically had an underspend of £321 million.
[6/20

And the reason was not because of technical timings of Barnett consequentials & new fiscal years...
[7/20

the reason was "lower than budgeted demand for Covid-19-related grants for concessionary travel, lower than expected demand for energy efficient schemes and lower than anticipated depreciation costs"
Presumably this money can/has been made available elsewhere? If so, where?
[8/20

➡️It seems less than accurate for the first minister to be painting a picture of a hard squeezed budget which leaves no wriggle room for further covid support to businesses.

Especially given the £580m underspend.
[9/20

▶️SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford claimed ScotGov lacks borrowing powers necessary to stimulate post-covid economic recovery
[10/20

"It is absolutely vital that the Scottish Parliament has the financial powers and funds necessary to fuel a strong recovery and protect Scotland’s Budget."

He went on to say...
[11/20

"Scotland can make different choices for an investment-led recovery but we can only do it with the borrowing powers and access to capital needed to stimulate our economy."

Further adding...
[12/20

"It would be completely unacceptable if the Tories were to leave the Scottish Parliament to respond to this huge economic crisis with one hand tied behind its back by refusing to devolve the powers needed and ushering in another decade of Tory austerity cuts"
[13/20

👉The reality

The audit reveals ScotGov *already has borrowing powers* and furthermore, the SNP have *not fully utilised them yet*. And these borrowing powers relate specifically to capital purposes!
[14/20

Factual reality is "Under the terms of the Scotland Act 2016, Scottish Ministers can borrow up to £3 billion for capital purposes, with an annual borrowing limit of 15 per cent (£450 million) of the overall borrowing cap"
[15/20

Furthermore, "In 2020/21, the Scottish Government
borrowed £200 million. This was less than the £450 million outlined by Scottish ministers as part of the 2020/21 Scottish budget"
[16/20

➡️For Ian Blackford to claim that Westminster/Toaries/UK is somehow denying Scotland the necessary borrowing powers to spend on economic recovery is blatantly untrue. In fact, he is either a liar or he doesn't know the basic facts about which he talks. One or the other.
[17/20

Fact is - as the audit of the Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts proves - ScotGov can borrow for capital purposes. And furthermore has failed to fully utilise this ability so far.
[18/20

Sources:

▪️Report: The 2020/21 audit of the Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts
audit-scotland.gov.uk/report/the-202…
▪️'Business leaders say £100 million Covid support fund is 'a drop in the ocean'
insider.co.uk/news/business-…
[19/20

▪️Sturgeon's bluff exposed as SNP 'reluctant to use full powers' over independence fear
express.co.uk/news/uk/140855…
[20/20

NB: a few cybernats have been saying 'the£580m is rolled forward', let's slap that down -the picture NS paints of any additional support for businesses during covid comes at expense of school kids etc is untrue given £580m underspend proving greater flexibility than she lets on.

Just going to leave this here as a very last last addition to the thread... "The Scottish Government needs to be more transparent about its spending in response to the pandemic, following a year in which its budget grew by a quarter" - Audit Scotland.