Scottish Labour Minister says £1bn SNP Government underspend is 'stab in the eye' for local councils
Zubir Ahmed also accused the Scottish Government of eighteen years of "complete economic mismanagement".
A Labour Minister has said a £1bn SNP Government underspend is a “stab in the eye” for hard-pressed local councils.
MP Zubir Ahmed said the cash could have been spent on housing, roads and other services.
According to the latest SNP Government accounts, John Swinney’s administration spent £56.3bn last year - £1bn less than the total budget.
The under-spend angered critics who believe council funding has been squeezed over the last eighteen years.
SNP Ministers are also projected to have a £4.7bn black hole by the end of the decade.
Ahmed, the Glasgow South West MP who is a Health Minister in the UK Government, said: “I would like to say I'm surprised, but I'm not. Alongside the £5bn pound black hole they seem to have created simultaneously, it's just further evidence of complete economic mismanagement over 18 years of SNP government."
“The people that feel it most are the people I used to see, and still see, in my NHS practice who are waiting for hip replacements, knee replacements, hernia operations, access to outpatients.
“Every institution they have touched has been worse now than it was 20 years ago.”
Ahmed, a surgeon, said many public services are “crying out for spending”, adding:
“Not only the NHS, but if you take housing in my constituency, a specific problem in social housing, if you look at the state of our roads, if you look at issues that are blighting us in terms of antisocial behaviour and fly tipping in my constituency, there's so much that can be done.
“At the time when they're hollowing out local government services, this is really a kind of a stab in the eye for local government colleagues as much as anything else.”
Responding to publication of the accounts, Auditor General Stephen Boyle said: “Although the Scottish Government reported a £1 billion underspend this year, it did so from a combination of additional funding from the UK Government and one-off savings.
“A forecast gap of nearly £5 billion remains between what ministers want to spend on public services and the funding available to them.
“The Scottish Government needs to prepare more detailed plans setting out how it will close that gap by the end of the decade.”
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here