Scottish Budget passes after vote at Holyrood

MSPs have approved the Scottish government's budget for the coming year following a Holyrood vote.

The SNP's £68bn spending plans for 2026-27 include changes to income tax thresholds and a levy on homes valued at over £1m.

Finance secretary Shona Robison struck a deal with the Scottish Liberal Democrats to ensure the budget would pass.

Scottish Labour and the Scottish Greens abstained and the Scottish Conservatives voted against the plans, describing them as "dreadful". The final vote was 66 votes for, 29 against with 24 abstentions,

The budget, which was announced last month, comes just months before voters head to the polls for the Holyrood elections.

Measures include an increase to the Scottish Child Payment, which will rise to £40 per week for families with a baby under the age of one from 2027-28.

There was also a targeted 15% relief for non-domestic rates for retail, hospitality and leisure premises, helping business which were facing a sharp increase in bills because of revaluations of rateable value.

Income tax thresholds rose in the basic and intermediate bands, which means workers in the lower tax bands will pay up to £40 a year less than those earning the same amount in other parts of the UK.

However, those earning over £50,000, will pay almost £1,500 more than people on the same salary elsewhere in the UK, according to forecasts from the Scottish Fiscal Commission.

Robison said SNP ministers had "continued to protect the core elements of the social contract that the people of Scotland rely on every day".

"We've kept prescriptions free, we've maintained free tuition, we have continued to expand free school meals, we have protected free bus travel for under-22s and over-60s, and we have provided free baby boxes to give every child the best start in life," she said.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats agreed to support the budget after discussions which they said had secured £300m of Holyrood money to fund the party's priority issues.

Party leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has said that would result in a 10% increase in payments to colleges, as well as more money for hospices, autism services and ADHD assessments.

Scottish Conservative finance spokesman, Craig Hoy, said Scotland was trapped in a "doom loop of higher taxes" due to the SNP's benefits commitments.

He added: "Shona Robison has delivered more pain by dragging more and more people into paying a higher tax rate.

"By the end of this decade the SNP's financial mismanagement means a staggering 30% of Scots will be paying the higher rate or more.

"The nationalists' high tax and high welfare spending approach is simply unsustainable and means more tax rises or swingeing cuts to public services – or a lethal combination of them both – are on the way."

Scottish Labour had said last month it would not oppose the budget although it was critical of the spending plans.

The party's finance spokesman Michael Marra said: "Scottish Labour will not stand in the way of police officers, nurses and local services continuing to be funded at the start of the new financial year.

"But we all know that this budget will not last the year – independent experts from the IFS and Fraser of Allander Institute have said so.

"The truth is that the SNP has decimated Scotland's public finances and taken treasured public services like our NHS to the brink."