The SNP government has offered concessions in a range of areas to rival parties to win budget support Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney is continuing last-minute talks with opposition parties to secure the support needed to pass his budget.
As MSPs prepare to vote on the minority government’s £33bn spending plans on Wednesday, Mr Swinney hopes to strike a deal with the Tories and Lib Dems.
The two parties have demanded concessions on college bursaries and support for private sector projects.
The Scots budget is being cut by about £1bn following UK spending reductions.
Although the details are still being worked out, the Liberal Democrats have given guarded support to the spending plans, while the Conservatives – who have backed previous SNP budgets – are also hopeful of reaching a deal.
Mr Swinney’s spending plans will pass if the two opposition parties either vote for, or abstain, in the final Budget Bill vote in parliament.
Meanwhile, the finance secretary has been continuing talks with Labour, although it is thought the party still feels the budget falls short of its demands for more action on youth employment.
Mr Swinney has argued his budget – the SNP’s last before May’s Holyrood election – will boost growth and protect front-line jobs.
But those claims have been questioned by the opposition parties, who feel the plans do not do enough to support economic recovery.
The two Green MSPs, who voted against the budget at an earlier stage, have set out “£400m of revenue and spending changes”.
Among their demands are limiting further education and housing cuts and committing to a full-scale, universal home insulation scheme, to be paid for by by delaying construction of the new Forth road bridge and widening the scope of non-domestic rates.
Holyrood’s only independent member, Lothians MSP Margo MacDonald, has also been seeking budget concessions.
Mr Swinney has already had to make amendments to cover a £30m hole in the budget, after failing to win enough support for his proposed tax on large retailers.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.