John Swinney: Budget stalemate would risk fuelling populism

"Political posturing" over Scotland's budget risks "feeding the forces of anti-politics and populism", First Minister John Swinney is to say.

In a speech to public and private sector leaders in Edinburgh, Swinney will urge opposition parties to back his government's tax and spend plan.

The SNP needs the support of at least one other party for finance secretary Shona Robison's plan to pass.

The 2025-26 budget has been called "far from perfect" by trade body the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC), but it has called on parliamentarians to back it, warning that failure to do so would result in a "thick layer of uncertainty" for the country.

SRC director David Lonsdale has said ministers and MSPs should "work collegiately to pass the budget without diluting the pro-growth measures during parliamentary horse-trading".

Today Swinney is expected to urge opponents not to pursue "stalemates instead of progress and delivery".

He will say: "If the budget falls, the impact will not be felt primarily, directly, by the MSPs who choose to vote ‘no’. It will be felt by the people in this room and the people you serve. 

"Voters will rightly struggle to understand why politicians, despite being in agreement with probably more than 95 per cent of the budget’s contents, choose to block it from passing to prove some nebulous – and ultimately highly damaging – political point.

"We do not have to look far beyond Scotland’s shores to see what happens when politicians and political parties pursue stalemates instead of progress and delivery.

"So be in no doubt. If people do not see Scotland’s parliament delivering progress for Scotland’s people – if instead it embarks down a path of political posturing and intransigence – then we run a real risk of feeding the forces of anti-politics and of populism.

"That is not something I am prepared to countenance in Scotland because in that circumstance, nobody wins."

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar is also set to give a speech today, saying that Scotland faces a choice between "more managed decline by the SNP or a new direction" at the next election.

Arguing for public sector reform, Sarwar will say a "growing bureaucratic monster" of quangos continues to "drain public money and deliver little in return".

Speaking at the University of Glasgow, he is expected to state: "Scotland spends a jaw-dropping £6.6bn on these bodies each year. That’s money that could be better spent on improving services for the people of Scotland.

"It has created a culture that means when something goes wrong, the SNP government tries to dodge responsibility by blaming someone you’ve never heard of.

"It creates a culture where the government serves itself, not the people.

"We need a government that's focused on delivering for the people, not a self-serving political class focused on creating jobs for the boys."

Reform UK called Swinney's comments "desperate". Also dismissing Sarwar's comments as "vague", the party's Scottish spokesman Martyn Greene said: "The SNP's failure to address Scotland's real issues – underfunded services, a bloated public sector, and a stagnant economy – is precisely what fuels public disillusionment. Populism doesn’t thrive in a vacuum. It grows when governments fail, and that’s exactly what the SNP has done for years. This budget is not a solution, it’s just another attempt to mask systemic problems with empty rhetoric."