Here's Nicol's letter to Scottish LibDem party members, issued yesterday :
As you will no doubt be aware a busy week in the Scottish Parliament saw the Scottish Government’s budget for 2008-09 approved. The budget was passed with the full support of the Conservatives.
Our biggest problem with the budget is that the SNP’s sums did not add up before the election in May and they don’t add up now. They over-promised and have had to backtrack and drop many manifesto promises such as writing off student debt.
Every party in the parliament is a minority and therefore there is a need to build consensus on the spending priorities of the parliament. The SNP government made a great deal out of being consensual and working together with other parties, but in reality this turned out to be nothing more than a series of back room deals with the Tories.
This budget is the most opaque since devolution, lacking detail and putting public services across Scotland at risk. The Liberal Democrats led the scrutiny in the Scottish Parliament while the Conservatives blocked debate and backed the nationalists.
The Government have continually failed to explain how they will make the
£1.6 billion of efficiency savings that they need to pay for public services. There is no plan in place if these savings cannot be met.
Liberal Democrats have raised substantive, significant issues in parliament and highlighted serious concerns on a number of topics – police numbers, student debt, university funding, class sizes, health expenditure, the enterprise networks, public transport investment, waste management and flood measures.
It is the choices made by the SNP government that threaten public services.
And it remains to be seen whether the populist policies that the SNP have chosen to direct resources to can be delivered without cuts to other public services.
The Scottish Conservatives have attempted to portray themselves as the winners from the budget. However, the Finance Secretary John Swinney summed up the Tory contribution as follows:
"If you look at the budget changes I have made, the entire changes that I've put through in the course of the amendments today and the other announcements I have made, I have changed the budget by about £30 million maximum. That's the equivalent of what the government spends in one morning of one day. So it's really marginal the difference to the budget changes that have been put forward." (John Swinney MSP, Newsnight Scotland 6th February 2008)
In the Times today, Magnus Linklater writes:
"Since the Tories voted with the SNP and supported their budget, they have now become the Nationalists' principal allies." (Magnus Linklater, The Times, 8th February 2008)
The budget has now passed. Liberal Democrats will continue to hold the SNP Government to account for the choices they have made.
I look forward to seeing you at our conference in Aviemore on 29th February where we will be consulting on health and broadcasting policy and debating substantive motions on higher education, affordable housing and the Right to Buy to mention just a few.