This year the Scottish Parliament is celebrating 25 years since it began. Looking to the future, this budget will set out the precedent for how the SNP plan to tackle the 2026 Scottish election. There will be big issues on the agenda, such as the NHS, taxation, energy, child poverty and devolution.
One of the largest factors that all political parties in Scotland will have to contend with is the decline of the public’s trust in the Government. 45 percent of people now say that they distrust the Government, a fall from the 55 percent from the year before. Factors that will have influenced this are the arrest of Peter Murrell, husband of Nicola Sturgeon, amid a financial conduct investigation and then later being charged with embezzlement. Nicola Sturgeon herself is still under investigation. The subsequent quick turnover of Humza Yousaf’s tenure as First Minister showed instability with the incumbent government, which impacted the public’s trust.
Shona Robinson has a lot to handle with this budget, with the Scottish Labour Party saying it would rather trigger an early Scottish election than vote for a bad budget. With Scottish Labour winning more seats in Scotland than the SNP in the 2024 General election, this could spell trouble for the incumbent SNP.
However, it is not all doom and gloom. After Labour’s 2024 Budget for the UK Government, Scotland was handed the largest devolution budget in history. This budget will set out how they intend to use it.
This report will summarise key points and figures from the 2024 Scottish Budget and provide stakeholder insight. It will do this by providing an understanding of the current Scottish political environment and the fiscal outlook of the Budget.
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