NICOLA Sturgeon has said she "hopes" there will be progress on further Covid support spending for Scotland during a call with the Prime Minister later today.
Earlier this week the UK Government pledged support for devolved nations to tackle the steep rise in cases of Covid as the variant spread across the country.
However, they were quickly forced into a U-turn after they admitted the funding, first described as “additional”, was actually cash Holyrood would have been given in the New Year.
Two weeks prior, pleas from the First Ministers of Scotland and Wales for additional financial support schemes, if Omicron forces more “interventionist measures”, were rejected by the Tory government.
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And now, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said that the Scottish Government had budgeted for £268 million, but was only allocated £220m.
She added that if the Scottish Government uses the fund it will have to “work out how to fill the hole in January”.
It comes after the Scottish Government made £100m available to support businesses, and a further £110m to support self isolation in the wake of the spread of the variant, which is now the dominant strain in Scotland.
Sturgeon said the Scottish Government have been left 'worse off' during a Covid press briefing
Asked about the Treasury’s funding announcement earlier in the week, the First Minister said that the Scottish Government had already included the funds in next year's budget.
She said: “Then what became obvious the day after that, which is even worse, is that where we thought it had been £268m the Treasury is now saying it's just £220m.
“I know this will sound, and in a different context it might be fair to say that I’m making a political point, I’m not. This is just fact.
“That Treasury announcement, and I’m sure this wasn’t the intention and I hope this wasn’t the intention, inadvertently for whatever reason, not paying close enough attention to it, that announcement has left the Scottish Government worse off than before it was made.
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“I have no extra money to allocate as a result of that Treasury announcement.”
The First Minister added that there needs to be a “systemic approach” which allows financial support to kick in when a devolved government has to take “difficult public health decisions”, and not just when the UK Government makes decisions on behalf of England.
She said: "Hopefully we’ll get some progress later on when I speak to the Prime Minister".
The current Scottish Government advice is to limit socialising to between three households, with shops and hospitality businesses bringing in further measures and self-isolation rules tightened.
Later in the briefing, the First Minister said that she doesn’t have the ability to tell large events to cancel because the Scottish Government can’t ensure the financial support will be there.
She said: “The UK Government has to get its finger out, it has to step up and it has to provide the support, because this is an impact.
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"Even though the Prime Minister’s messages might not be the same as mine, people in England are changing their behaviour responsibly, I think, and so we’re seeing the same impact on hospitality in England as we are seeing in Scotland.
“There needs to be, I don’t know when the Chancellor is back in the country, if he’s in the country, but he should have no other job today than to get in place the financial support mechanisms that helps hospitality, culture and the wider economy as we go through the next difficult stage.
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“The consequences of inaction right now is that this next difficult phase will be much much harder and worse than it would be if we managed this properly right now.”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has recently returned to the UK from a trip to California in the US after public outrage that he was not in the country to sort out the support needed for struggling businesses.
The Treasury has been contacted for comment.
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