BORIS Johnson’s £5 billion economic recovery plan does not include any new money for Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
During the Scottish Government daily briefing, the First Minister was asked for her views on the Prime Minister’s speech today – which had been touted by the press as comparable to Roosevelt’s post-depression new deal programme.
In reality the Tory leader’s spending pledge was equivalent to around one quarter of 1% of GDP - while the former US president’s plan ran for several years, during which spending was set at about 5-7% of GDP annually.
The Prime Minister has come under fire for using the speech to repeat pre-election pledges including the promise to hire 20,000 new police officers and build 40 hospitals.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson's economy plan puts 'Scotland's recovery at risk'
The UK’s economy shrank by more than 20% earlier this year as lockdown hit, and the state is also expected to be the worst hit financially of any developed nation.
Scotland’s Finance Secretary has warned Johnson’s spending package falls “eye-wateringly short” of a “new deal” – as well as other countries’ current plans. Germany is set to spend 4% of GDP on its economic recovery programme.
Asked for her views on Johnson’s announcement, Sturgeon said she had been “extremely underwhelmed” by the proposals.
“This is not new money,” she told viewers. “This is simply shuffling around money that was in the system.”
The SNP leader said there would be no additional Barnett consequentials coming to the Scottish Parliament as a result of the announcement, but there may be a “re-profiling” of what was already expected.
"I don't think that's commensurate with the scale of the challenge we face", Sturgeon added.
Kate Forbes has requested that the UK Government give Scotland further fiscal powers to allow it to borrow to aid its response to the economic crisis.
However this morning she said her call had been “kicked into the long grass”.
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