Greens and Lib Dems to back the Scottish budget

The Greens and the Liberal Democrats have confirmed they will back the Scottish budget.  

The support means that John Swinney’s first budget since becoming first minister will successfully pass through parliament. 

The Scottish Government said the deal with the two parties will provide cash for drug and alcohol services, hospices, nature restoration, and the protection of Corseford College, Scotland’s only further education pathway for adults with complex and additional support needs.  

Finance secretary Shona Robison said: “Through seeking compromise, I believe we are delivering a budget that will strengthen services and support our communities. With the agreements with these two parties now in place this will secure a majority in parliament in support of the budget bill.” 

The finance secretary said the majority of the additional cash it coming from a reduction in debt servicing cost from estimates made last year, while the top-up for the Nature Restoration Fund will come from Scotwind revenue.

Scottish Labour has confirmed that its MSPs will abstain from voting on the budget, while the Scottish Conservatives will vote against.  

Scottish Greens finance spokesperson Ross Greer criticised Labour’s intention to abstain, claiming the party had “asked for nothing, got nothing”, while the Greens were “consistently delivering results that help people in their day-to-day lives”.

His party’s negotiation has resulted in the Scottish Government agreeing to expand free school meals to S1-S3 pupils in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment from August in eight council areas, a year-long regional trial to cap bus fares starting next January, and £26m for the Nature Restoration Fund.

The location of the trialled bus fare cap is yet to be decided, but it is expected to be a region that spans both rural and urban areas. Discussion with regional transport partnerships will be taken forward by transport secretary Fiona Hyslop. Criteria for the trial and measuring success will be laid out in due course.

Asked about assurances from ministers that these asks would not be reneged on in future months, after funding cuts announced in September fell largely on Green policies from the Bute House Agreement, Greer said the financial pressure on the Scottish Government had now “eased”.

He said: “The big difference now compared to previously is that the Scottish Government was in a financial crisis not of its own making, it was a result of decisions taken by the previous UK Government.

“That financial pressure on the Scottish Government has eased – it’s not gone away completely – but our concern was that given the previous years of financial pressures, there would be huge in-year cuts and the areas we care about the most would be the first to be cut.

“There is much, much less threat of that now. The Fiscal Commission have been very clear we're not in that same space of financial pressure that we were in before.”

Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said this deal “comes off the back of all the wins” from the first round of negotiations ahead of the budget statement in December.

His party secured extra funding for drugs and neonatal services, colleges (including Corseford College, which specifically in support young people with complex and additional needs) and hospices.

The Scottish Government will also “look much more closely” at replacing a hospital in Lerwick, Kilmaron Special School and Newburgh railway station as part of work underway on the infrastructure investment plan, the Lib Dems said.

Cole-Hamilton said that “nothing is being cut as a result of these priorities” from the initial budget, though the Scottish Government confirmed last week that it would not push forward with the National Care Service plan which frees up some cash.

He also said the deal would result in “significantly more money for local authorities”, but refused to rule out whether his party would vote against council tax rises.

He added that while is party believes that “what we really need is a change of government”, the prospect of an early election had been taken off the table when Labour confirmed it would abstain.

He said: “The budget is not a referendum on this performance of the SNP, which by any metric is failing the people of Scotland. In fact it represents a means of unpicking some of the damage that they’ve done. That is why, after several rounds of negotiation, the Liberal Democrats have agreed that we’re now in a place where we can support the budget.”

Speaking to the press on Tuesday afternoon, Robison said this was a “better budget” following negotiations.

She also argued that securing cross-party agreement now was important to prove the Scottish Parliament worked as intended, citing fears about “populist politicians” entering Holyrood after the 2026 election, who “quite often attack the political institutions themselves”.

She added: “Political institutions become vulnerable if they’re not delivering the priorities of the people, and I think that’s why this budget does deliver on priorities – the priorities I think the public would feel are the right ones.”

On Labour’s decision to abstain, the finance secretary said it was a “missed opportunity” for the opposition party.

The Scottish Conservatives have accused the Lib Dems of helping to “prop up the Nationalists”. The Tories shadow finance secretary Chris Hoy added: “This is a bad budget that raises taxes without improving public services, yet Labour and the Lib Dems are falling over themselves to back it. We're standing up to the SNP as the only political party in Scotland representing common sense for a change.”