THE BBC was “misled” by the Tory Government over new funding promised to Scotland, the Economy Secretary told Good Morning Scotland today.
Yesterday the Treasury appeared to backtrack on promises of additional money for the devolved administrations. Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled a new rescue package for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses while a notice from the Treasury said Holyrood would receive an extra £375 million funding.
READ MORE: UK Chancellor U-turn on Covid cash vow leaves Scotland 'short-changed'
Tory MSPs and MPs welcomed the new announcement – but just minutes later the details on the Treasury website changed.
It later said the £375m was part of “funding which has already been guaranteed”. Scotland’s Finance Secretary Kate Forbes said she was “surprised and disappointed” by the news.
This morning Fiona Hyslop appeared on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland, where the incident was discussed.
The Economy Secretary told listeners: “It’s important that there are good lines of communication, that the UK Government doesn’t present things as UK-wide when they’re really not –“
Presenter Laura Maxwell interrupted: “Murdo Fraser says that was just a mistake and that it was corrected within minutes.”
The Tory MSP had also appeared on the programme earlier.
Hyslop responded: “Well, if it was corrected within minutes the BBC was running the story all day and into the evening, saying that this was new money that was being made available to the whole of the UK.
“So I’m afraid that they were obviously misleading yourselves as well as business, and I think that’s the problem.”
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As of this morning the BBC News site is still carrying the story but does not make clear that the £375m was already part of agreed funding.
The article states: “The Chancellor also pledged a further £594m for local authorities and devolved administrations to support businesses not eligible for the grants. The Scottish Government will receive £375m, the Welsh Government £227m and the Northern Ireland Executive £127m.”
Scottish Labour also hit out at the UK Government over the change of plans yesterday.
The party’s finance spokesperson Jackie Baillie said: “It only took the Tory Government a matter of minutes to renege on its commitment of additional funding for Scotland on top of the UK-wide support scheme announced today.
“This is an embarrassing U-turn that leaves Scottish businesses and workers short-changed.
“It’s time for the UK Government to honour its original statement and provide the additional funds for devolved nations and regions on top of the UK-wide funding package.”
Meanwhile Forbes called the change a “blow to Scottish businesses”. She said she would be writing to Sunak to raise the issue.
“We are both surprised and disappointed that the UK Government’s announcement of additional funding for businesses in England will not – despite the initial indications – generate further new funding for the Scottish Government or other devolved administrations,” she said.
“We fully understand that while the tight new restrictions now in force are necessary to slow spread of the virus, they represent another blow for businesses.
“That is why we have allocated £570m since October to helping businesses, and this sum will rise due to the number of new businesses eligible for support under the latest lockdown restrictions.”
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