Copyright dailyrecord
John Swinney’s SNP Government has recorded a £1bn underspend despite accusing Westminster of continuing austerity . The figure was contained in the Government’s annual accounts for 2024/25 . Swinney’s administration spent £56.bn last year - £1 bn less than the total budget . It comes after the SNP Government claimed the UK Government had not provided sufficient funding. Swinney said this year: “Last summer, the Labour Government was elected on a commitment to end austerity, to deliver change. And what have the Labour Government done? “The Labour government have delivered a continuation of austerity." Stephen Boyle, Auditor General for Scotland, said: “Although the Scottish Government reported a £1 billion underspend this year, it did so from a combination of additional funding from the UK Government and one-off savings. "A forecast gap of nearly £5 billion remains between what ministers want to spend on public services and the funding available to them. “The Scottish Government needs to prepare more detailed plans setting out how it will close that gap by the end of the decade.” This is a breaking news story - we'll bring you updates, pictures and video as it happens. For the latest news and breaking news visit: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/ Here you can get your must-see news, features, videos and pictures throughout the day from the Daily Record, Sunday Mail and Record Online. Get all the big headlines, pictures, analysis, opinion and video on the stories that matter to you. You can also check out our social media channels for live updates. Follow us on Twitter @Record_Politics for the latest news. Or you can catch all the action by following our team: @paulhutcheon and @dennynews. We're on Facebook where you can join our Record Politics group for all our stories. We also have a weekly politics podcast, Planet Holyrood, which you can listen to Spotify or Apple music, or watch on the Daily Record YouTube channel. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram and TikTok for the best bits of the podcast. You can sign up for the Daily Record Politics newsletter here. To sign up to the Daily R ecord Politics newsletter, click here
