
Now the SNP must prove it can govern
In the history of devolution, no Westminster government has ever given Scotland as large a block grant settlement as the one announced by Labour on Wednesday. In her fiscal statement, the chancellor declared that politicians north of the border will receive £1.5 billion this year and a record £3.4 billion next year via the Barnett formula. It’s a move that caught the SNP by surprise, and one that has thrown the nationalist’s political strategy into doubt. Long before the July election, the SNP government began an anti-Labour austerity campaign – claiming Keir Starmer’s ‘tough decisions’ rhetoric was code for public service spending cuts while using policy positions like Keir Starmer’s
