SNP figures 'show Westminster short-changes Scotland by billions'

The party published a “litany” of examples of the London government promising funding that never arrived, or Scotland being forced to pay to cover Tory cuts and their “Brexit obsession”.

However, the Treasury claimed in response that Scots actually benefit from a substantial "Union dividend".

After Brexit, the Tories promised that the “levelling-up fund”, now overseen by Michael Gove, would match the receipts of EU funding for the devolved nations. However, in November 2021 the Welsh Government said that it had been allocated £46 million by the Tory government, instead of the £375m it would have received from the EU.

Although the UK Government said this was inaccurate, Cardiff stuck by its guns, saying: “The figures are indisputable … Wales now has less say over less money.”

Data released by the SNP claims to show that of the £1.5bn promised to Scotland through the “levelling-up fund”, more than £1.3bn is yet to be seen. They say this shortfall amounts to each household in Scotland being shortchanged by £529.

Figures from SPICe (the Scottish Parliament Information Centre) show that while the Scottish Government has allocated £849m to City Deals aimed at improving regional economies, the UK Government has allocated £438m.

The SNP say that this amounts to a shortfall of £464 per household in these regions.

The SNP have also included the cash which is spent mitigating the impacts of Conservative cuts on the worst off in society, including £360 million by 2023/24 for the Scottish Child Payment, £81 million on Discretionary Housing Payments which includes around £60 million to mitigate the bedroom tax, and £41 million on the Scottish Welfare Fund.

They say this is equivalent to £1048 for every Universal Credit claimant in Scotland. The Tories cut the payment by £1040 per year late in 2021.

The party’s figures also include £125m in VAT paid by Scottish police and fire services, £103m in health funding shortfalls, and £3.04 billion as Scotland’s share of the Brexit “divorce” bill.

In total, the SNP say Scotland has been short-changed by around £5.46bn.

The SNP’s Tommy Sheppard (below) said the figures were part of a “history of behaviour that goes back decades”.

He went on: “Whether it’s Brexit present, Brexit future, City Deals, welfare, police, fire services or the NHS, there is one constant – the Tories will short-change Scotland. It’s the same lesson again and again: Westminster control means cuts not cash.

“One of the latest has been their supposed ‘levelling-up’ funding. Boris Johnson and Michael Gove led a Brexit campaign that promised £1.5 billion a year for Scottish devolved services when the UK left the EU. Instead all we have heard announced is £172 million. To put that in context, for every £1 they promised they’ve given 11 pence – Scotland has been short-changed by 89%.

“To top it off Scotland is expected to pay for the ‘privilege’ of leaving the EU when it voted against it and was promised in 2014 that a ‘No’ vote would guarantee Scotland remained in the EU. If that isn’t being short-changed what is?

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“There’s only one way to escape this vicious cycle of being short-changed again and again by Westminster. Only independence means Scotland will not be ignored and short-changed anymore.”

Responding to the SNP’s arguments, the UK Government claimed that the figures were “wilfully misleading”. They said a “Union dividend worth more than £2,200 every year for each person in Scotland” was shown in the Scottish Government’s “own official figures”.

“We have just provided the Scottish Government with a record £41 billion per year for the next three years, the highest spending review settlement since devolution,” they added.

They also denied that the City Deal funding constituted an underspend, and said that EU receipts would be matched by post-Brexit funds “by 2024-25”.