Scottish Government
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Fraser of Allander report
Scottish Government Finance Secretary John Swinney has reacted to today's latest Economic Commentary from the University of Strathclyde's Fraser of Allander Institute.
Mr Swinney said:
"The Fraser of Allander report recognises the recovery we are building in Scotland, and reinforces everything that the Scottish Government has said about the threat to Scotland's recovery and jobs posed by Westminster spending cuts that are far too fast and far too deep. Westminster will cut Scotland's budget by 1.3 billion pounds next year, including an 800 million pounds cut in the capital budget.
"The Scottish economy grew strongly in Q2 2010, where GDP expanded at a faster rate than the UK as a whole and faster than every G7 country apart from Germany.
"This was driven by a substantial rise in the construction sector - which in these difficult times is being greatly assisted by the Scottish Government's capital investment programme for schools, hospitals, transport, and housing.
"However, it is clear that Scotland's recovery is fragile, and that is why the UK Government's damaging decision to slash our capital budget by a quarter next year - and by more than a third over the spending review period - threatens to destroy jobs and our recovery.
"The UK Government's Comprehensive Spending Review underlined that we cannot trust Westminster with Scotland's economy. We need real economic and financial powers at Holyrood, and using the limited responsibilities currently available to us we will shortly bring forward a Budget which prioritises economic recovery, frontline services and building a low carbon economy in the teeth of huge Westminster spending cuts."
