TORY ministers have rejected a Scottish Government plea to devolve more fiscal powers to Holyrood.

On a flying visit to Edinburgh, Steve Barclay, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury said the government in London was able to give Scotland exactly what it needed. 

Earlier this month, ahead of the Chancellor’s summer statement, the finance secretaries of the three devolved administrations asked for capital spending to be moved over to day-to-day revenue and for an end to “arbitrary” limits on borrowing. 

Scotland’s Finance Secretary Kate Forbes said these “relatively limited powers” would help “ease some of the immense pressures on our budget and give us more tools to kick-start our recovery.”

Speaking to the PA news agency during a visit to LOVE Gorgie Farm in Edinburgh with Scottish Secretary Alister Jack on Friday, Barclay said this was unnecessary. He said there would be another £1.9bn coming from the Treasury's coffers to Edinburgh.

He said: "What the Scottish Government said is that they wanted greater flexibility to be able to deal with some of the uncertainty of the pressures from Covid and they gave us an estimate as to what that cost would be.

"We've listened to that and we've responded with something that's not been done before, which is giving that in-year clarity as to the additional Covid funding for the rest of the year."

Barclay, who met with Forbes and the finance secretaries of Wales and Northern Ireland earlier in the day, said £6.5bn has been invested in Scotland since the beginning of the pandemic to aid the response.

He questioned how Scotland would borrow the extra funding it seeks.

He said: "It's difficult to see even what currency the Scottish Government would be borrowing under.

"The UK, through pooling its resources, is able to borrow at low interest rates.

"Through the block grant, Scotland benefits in terms of its funding - £125 per head compared to £100 in England.

"But the measures today are in addition to that and they sit within the wider package of UK support, and that's because across the UK we're better able to weather the storm of the Covid crisis."

In a statement after the meeting, Forbes said it was dissapoint that the UK government rejected the three nation call for "additional fiscal flexibility".

She added: “The powers we and the other devolved governments seek are reasonable, straightforward and would not cost the UK Government a penny.

“At the moment, for example, I can’t take money from the capital budget, which we have been unable to spend because of COVID-19, and use it for revenue.

"Yet it is revenue that pays for our health services and schools, supports businesses and keeps our transport systems running.

“Unlike other countries across the world we cannot respond quickly to emerging needs by borrowing, leaving us overly-dependent on policy decisions made by the UK Government.

“We require these powers now to make the decisions needed to grow our economy and create jobs.  Along with the Welsh and Northern Ireland Governments, we will continue making this urgent case to the Treasury.”