Nicola Sturgeon's SNP government to run up £80m overspend on operating costs while raising income tax for Scots

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Nicola Sturgeon’s Government is poised for a massive £80m overspend on its running costs despite raising taxes and backing cuts.Leaked forecasts reveal the Government will fail to keep within its own budget after a rise in spending on well paid civil servants.Labour MSP Daniel Johnson said: “The SNP cannot even be trusted to manage their own budget, let alone the budget for all of Scotland.

This kind of financially irresponsible behaviour has become typical of the SNP.“From ferries to the National Care Service, it is becoming ever clearer that the SNP are as economically illiterate as the Tories.

The government continues to overspend while our most vital services suffer. This is unacceptable. Scotland deserves a party that can handle its finances.”The current financial year has been one of the toughest of devolution, with inflation and public sector pay deals eating into the budget.In his emergency review in November, Deputy First Minister John Swinney announced a series of “savings” across the public sector.But a presentation obtained by the Record from October shows the Government’s running costs in 2022/23, which include staff, accommodation, IT and legal, are out of control.The operating cost budget was £667.1m, but the forecast is £747.9m - an £80m overspend.

A breakdown shows that £63m relates to staff and £17m is described as “non staff” costs.Another document, which refers to “upward pressures” on funding, reveals a 47.6% increase in civil servants in C2 bands from March 2020.