(1 day, 11 hours ago)
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I beg to move,
That this House has considered the impact of the Spending Review 2025 on Scotland.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John. On behalf of the Scottish contingent, I would like to thank the weather for finally breaking slightly, so that we can enjoy these much more suitable conditions—something else delivered by a Labour Government.
It is a privilege to discuss today the implications of the recent UK Government spending review for Scotland—a review that marks a pivotal moment for our country, offering both opportunities and challenges that we must confront with clarity and resolve. Let me begin by acknowledging some of the significant investments that were announced in the spending review and associated announcements. The allocation of £25 million for the Forth green freeport, which includes Rosyth in my constituency, is a welcome development and an investment that has the potential to transform the local economy, create jobs and position Scotland at the forefront of green innovation. I commend the Government for recognising the strategic importance of that initiative. In addition, the provision of £234 million in local funds to bring investment to communities across Scotland is a vital step forward.
I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on all he does in this place; he is making an excellent name for himself when it comes to working for his constituents. Although the new growth fund that will invest in deprived communities across the United Kingdom is welcome, the Scottish funding from it will be the same overall level in cash terms as under the UK shared prosperity fund for 2025-26. There are regions and locations in Scotland and Northern Ireland that have been historically underfunded, and therefore equality of spending will not bring about equality of outcome. Does he agree that the Minister, who is an honourable lady, must look at this and ensure that the Government’s goal is equality of outcome? It must be the same for everybody.
I think the Government are already moving towards a focus on outcomes for budgeting, and I would like to see more of that.
As my constituency contains a large number of former coalfields, I have been working closely with colleagues on the replacement of the shared prosperity fund and how we can ensure that it delivers skills and investment for young people and opportunities in all parts of the United Kingdom. I can assure the Minister that I will be working with local stakeholders in Dunfermline and Dollar to ensure that our area secures a fair share of the funding that has been allocated for the many great projects that stand to deliver real benefits to my constituents.
Over the next three years, this Labour Government will provide the Scottish Government with an additional £9.1 billion for Scottish public services. That is the largest settlement in real terms since devolution began, and a historic opportunity for the Scottish Government to invest in the NHS, police, housing and schools—services that are the bedrock of our society, yet are the root cause of much of the correspondence I receive from constituents who are being failed by the current Scottish Government in Holyrood.
One year on from a housing emergency being declared, house building is down in Scotland, and 10,000 children remain in temporary accommodation, with no home to call their own. Indeed, as a former Fife councillor, I know that Fife council is still in the unenviable position of knowing that it breaks the law every single day when it comes to housing, because of the salami-slicing of local government budgets by the Scottish Government. That the SNP Scottish Government knowingly preside over such a situation is unfathomable, having taken their eye off multiple balls during their disastrous time in power.
I must also express my concern that, no matter how much funding is made available, the Government in Holyrood continue to fall back on a familiar pattern of whingeing and wasting. We have seen this time and again, from the mismanagement of ferry contracts to the establishment of overseas embassies that serve little practical purpose beyond a vanity project and a residence for the Minister to have a very nice time on holidays funded by the public purse.
This morning I looked over the caseload in my office, and a third of cases received are from people with problems relating to devolved policy areas. So fed up are the people of Dunfermline and Dollar by the myriad failures of the SNP that they know the best place to come for help is Scottish Labour MPs and a UK Labour Government. This morning, we learned that more Scottish public money will be spent on defending the former chief executive of the SNP in a court case about a caravan found in my constituency.
In England, the UK Labour Government have recruited more than 1,500 GPs since 1 October thanks to Government action and the digitisation of the health service in England progressing more quickly. Meanwhile, in this place I have had to raise issues including access for little boys to timely medical help for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a lack of local dentists, and care and support for those with Parkinson’s. I am also aware of the case of Vicki Tocher, a constituent of mine who has been battling for almost a year to get her eight-year-old son, Issac, in front of doctors after he suffered a traumatic brain injury while at school.
In Scotland we see delays to national treatment centres. One in six Scots is on an NHS waiting list, there are 50,000 fewer operations than before the pandemic, and a record number have been forced to turn to private healthcare. In February, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said that the number of patients waiting more than 12 hours in A&E in Scotland is 99 times higher than it was 14 years ago.
The Scottish Conservatives have suggested that we should be prioritising Scottish-based students for medical places at university, because they are much more likely to stay in the UK and therefore contribute to our workforce. Would the hon. Gentleman support that to help the backlog and health services in Scotland?
We have actually seen announcements from the UK Health Secretary about prioritising UK students.
In my constituency, a new GP surgery in Kincardine has been promised for well over a decade, but is still awaiting Government funding. That village in the west of my constituency is growing, and its current GP surgery, which is little more than a cottage that used to be a police station, has been there for more than 120 years.
On digitisation, there has been better news in Scotland in the past couple of weeks. The NHS Scotland digital app will launch later this year; however, it will work only in dermatology and one NHS board. I am sure I could make jokes about rash decisions and the SNP getting under people’s skin, but these critical issues are having a real impact across the country. There is a real risk that as football clubs across Scotland begin pre-season training, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care might stop visiting hospitals and go back to last season’s failed tactics of being driven to the pub and between football grounds.
The spending review, driven by the UK Labour Government, rightly puts faith in our young people and the future. It includes investment in AI and the nuclear and defence sectors, alongside £1.2 billion for training and apprenticeships, designed to equip the next generation with skills and give them the opportunities they deserve. Yet in my constituency, Fife college has warned of cuts to courses and campus closures due to the mismanagement of the Scottish budget by the SNP. That is a betrayal of our young people’s potential, and takes money away from the working class kids of Fife to prop up its own failures in higher and further education elsewhere in the country.
While the UK Labour Government are investing in regional transport across England, in Scotland rail fares have increased three times since March 2024 and we have lost 1,400 bus routes since the SNP came to power—something my constituents feel strongly and keenly because of the rural nature of the constituency, including Dollar, Muckhart and the west Fife villages. That is not progress but regression, and is particularly challenging for the rural parts of my constituency.
Moreover, the ideological objection in Scotland to nuclear power and the refusal to embrace new small modular reactors will cost Scotland dearly. We are losing out on jobs, investment and the opportunity to secure our energy future. That is not just short-sighted but a dereliction of duty.
Order. I hope the hon. Gentleman will tailor his critique of the SNP Government to the spending review. I appreciate the thrust of his remarks, but he will understand my advice.
Thank you, Sir John. I will of course take that on board. You will glad to hear what I am coming to next.
Economically, however, we have seen the SNP’s failure to take responsibility for the Scottish economy, as confirmed by the Scottish Fiscal Commission. That has cost the country about £1 billion and left it unable to keep pace with UK economic growth. Yet all we hear, after 19 years in power, is that it is someone else’s fault. We have also seen the proposed closure of Alexander Dennis in Larbert and Camelon, with the potential loss of 400 jobs. The chief executive stated:
“the Scottish Government has little regard for domestic bus manufacturing jobs in Scotland”.
I now turn to the actions that I believe the UK Government can take, following the spending review, to support economic growth and other aspects in Scotland. As an island nation, we depend on maritime and aviation infrastructure. There are promising opportunities in Fife for the development of sustainable aviation fuels and their maritime equivalent. Those sectors were a priority in the spending review, so money was set aside to support them, and legislation on this matter is currently passing through the House. I urge the Government to support investment in those key sectors.
The spending review also stated that aviation infrastructure must be improved. One practical step that we can take is to finalise a US visa pre-agreement clearance at Edinburgh airport, where I understand there have been negotiations between the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the US State Department. Will the Minister prioritise that issue and do everything she can to make it a reality?
While on the subject of transport I must raise again the matter of a direct passenger ferry route between Rosyth and Dunkirk. Despite the genuine best efforts of my SNP predecessor, who worked incredibly hard on this issue, progress has been stymied by legal complications regarding border control posts. However, it is estimated that such a route could carry 79,000 passengers annually and bring an additional £11.5 million to the Scottish economy, and on the freight side remove 8.2 million km of freight traffic from UK roads, significantly reducing carbon emissions.
To meet the target of launching the service by spring 2026, we must resolve the legal issues swiftly. There are strong indications that the Scottish Government can act in the short term, but I think there is genuine legal confusion. I have written to the Secretary of State just this week to ask if he will work with Scottish Ministers on a legal assurance letter that would guarantee the issue will be investigated in time to solve the problem for 2026. Will the Minister pursue that with the Secretary of State as a matter of urgency?
Finally, I turn to defence. The spending review confirmed that defence spending will rise to 2.6% of GDP from 2027, with an ambition to reach 3% in the next Parliament. We have seen announcements this week around the NATO summit that defence spending will rise even more, which I fully support. This aligns with the strategic defence review and underscores the Government’s commitment to national security.
Scotland viewed on a globe rather than a flat map is a frontline nation in defence of NATO’s northern flank. From the high north, Russian ships and submarines pose a threat to NATO merchant shipping and critical underwater cables in the Atlantic. Both the strategic defence review and the spending review rightly highlight the need to strengthen NATO’s deterrence in northern Europe and the high north. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has also emphasised the importance of an expanded role for NATO in that region.
It is a source of great pride for me that Scotland’s highly skilled defence workforce is at the forefront of meeting the UK’s defence needs, including building and launching new Type 31 frigates from Rosyth in my constituency. The Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry, the right hon. Member for Liverpool Garston (Maria Eagle), has confirmed the importance of export orders for this ship. Can the Minister to assist me in any way possible to support the workforce and secure orders for both export and the Royal Navy of this versatile ship?
Thankfully, defence is mainly reserved to Westminster. However, the total failure of the Scottish Government on devolved matters such as skills and infrastructure has directly impacted the defence sector, our armed forces and the ability of the spending review to meet its goals, along with the strategic defence review. We have the farcical position that senior people in the SNP say that it is party policy that public money should not be spent on military equipment, denying young people the chance to become welders—a skill much sought after across a range of sectors. Even more ridiculously, the SNP has responded to a request for medical aid from Ukraine by dictating that aid could not be used on military casualties—a preposterous view that is utterly detached from reality. Millions of pounds are wasted on embassies, but the SNP cannot even handle a simple request from an ally.
The spending review has unlocked the start of long-term plans in other Departments, which can also support the wider defence industry in Scotland, securing jobs and investment. This week, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade spoke about the prospect of a defence growth fund in Scotland. What discussions has the Minister had with her colleagues about that fund? How is she ensuring that it will include a broad partnership in Scotland, including in areas such as skills, so that young people in my constituency can benefit from the necessary increase in defence spending?
The UK Government’s spending review offers Scotland a path forward—one of investment, opportunity and renewal. To realise this potential, we must first confront the failures of the SNP Government and demand better for our constituents. We must ensure that every pound allocated is spent wisely, that every opportunity is seized and that every Scot has the opportunity to thrive in future.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John. I congratulate the hon. Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie) on a thorough and well thought-out speech.
Before I go any further, I should state my credentials as a devolutionist. My name is on the claim of right for Scotland, signed all those years ago in Edinburgh. I was a founding member of the Scottish Parliament and served on the Scottish Constitutional Convention before that. I believe in devolution and had the honour to serve as a Member of the Scottish Parliament for much of my present constituency for some 12 years. Looking back on those days—my goodness me—what would we have done with £9.1 billion? It would have been an absolute godsend.
What my constituents have great trouble understanding is how the money seems to go in one end of the pipe but not come out the other. I have probably bored this place endlessly about maternity services in the far north of Scotland but, for old times’ sake, I am going to do it again. We used to enjoy a consultant-led maternity service based in Wick, in Caithness, and mums could give birth locally. It was then proposed, during my time in the Scottish Parliament, that that would be taken away and done from Inverness. We saw that one off, however; the then Labour-Liberal Scottish Executive changed their mind and left the service local.
As everyone knows, because I have said it so many times, more recently that change has come to pass and we no longer have a maternity service based in Caithness, in the north of Scotland. Mothers have to take a more than 200-mile round trip to give birth, even in the middle of winter, when the A9 blocks at the Ord of Caithness. You have to be joking! In one harrowing case a mother bearing twins was on her way from Caithness to Inverness and gave birth to the first child in Golspie and the second in Inverness.
During my time in the Scottish Parliament, we made the argument to Ministers and there was a change of heart. No matter what I and the people of Caithness say now, we cannot get the Scottish Government to change their mind, yet we see all the money going in. As soon as I heard about the £9.1 billion, I said on the record that I sincerely hoped some of the money would go in the direction it ought to, to give mums and babies the same rights as in other parts of Scotland.
Another grouse is that Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the successor body to the Highlands and Islands Development Board, which was set up by Harold Wilson’s Government in the 1960s, is financially a shadow of what it was. At the end of the day, that body, notwithstanding its change of name, is about securing investment and high-quality employment in some of the more remote parts of Scotland. In its day it was highly successful and helped not just halt but reverse depopulation—the new highland clearances—which has been the curse of the highlands for far too long. Again, we see the £9.1 billion coming in and ask where it is going.
I also want to make a wider point. I remind colleagues that I am a convinced devolutionist. However, I suggest that where there is a failure to understand where the money goes or a belief that it is not being delivered fairly, that is corrosive to that cherished notion of devolution. That is a dangerous path to tread.
The hon. Member, as usual, makes a powerful case for his constituency, but I am surprised that he is repeating the Labour figure of £9.1 billion, which has already been heavily criticised by the Fraser of Allander Institute. Did Labour get it wrong or did the Fraser of Allander Institute get it wrong? I just want clarification on that point of fact. I would hate for the hon. Member to be using dodgy Labour figures.
I would hate to mislead hon. Members, but nevertheless, the perception remains that lots of money is going in one end and not coming out the other in different parts of Scotland. That is a dangerous perception, to say the least.
The hon. Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry (Stephen Gethins) is known to be fair-minded. I hope that he will take back to Holyrood what I think will be the nature of this debate and reflect it there in an honourable and fair way. These are genuine worries. I did not sign the claim of right for Scotland on a whim; I signed it because I believed it back then. I really do want to see the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government thrive, and I hope that in years to come we will see things being done rather differently.
It is a privilege to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John. I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie) for securing this important debate and for his speech highlighting what a Labour Government in Westminster can mean for our constituents in Scotland.
The spending review delivers a major boost to Scotland. Over the next three years, the Scottish Government will receive £9.1 billion of funding. That marks the largest real-terms settlement since devolution began. Labour has ended austerity in Scotland. These are not just numbers; this funding is an opportunity for real change. It must be used to strengthen the services people rely on every day: our NHS, schools, police and housing. It is now down to the Scottish Government to deliver on those matters with this funding from the UK Labour Government.
I also welcome the spending review’s creation of and support for four investment zones and green freeports, in the north-east, in Inverness and Cromarty Firth, at Forth Green and, most importantly to me, in the Glasgow city region. That includes £160 million each over 10 years. The Glasgow investment zone will focus on advanced manufacturing, a future growth sector that the city is well placed to lead, with its world-class universities and a strong pool of talent in the region. The investment zone will be focused on sites in Renfrewshire, alongside existing innovation districts and underdeveloped sites near critical infrastructure around Glasgow airport. Local partners expect it to generate at least £1.7 billion of investment and up to 18,000 full-time equivalent jobs over 10 years, and boost the region’s research and innovation economy.
In recent years, we have seen the benefits of further devolving power and funding to city regions across the UK, with the ability at local level to create and tailor policies to better serve our communities. In Scotland, however, devolution appears to have stalled at Holyrood. There is little appetite to pass power and more funding to the Glasgow city region and other communities across Scotland. I hope that the Minister will indicate that the UK Government would support further devolution to the Glasgow city region, and I hope that the Scottish Government move quickly to achieve that.
The UK Labour Government have provided the Scottish Government with a huge and historic opportunity to make progress with the commitments in the spending review to empower our city regions with more powers and funding to better deliver for our communities. In 2026, Scotland will have the chance to choose a Government who not just talk but deliver: a Scottish Labour Government who turn record funding into real results for all of our communities.
It is a pleasure to be with you this morning, Sir John. I congratulate the hon. Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie) on securing the debate and on making the points that he made.
The hon. Member, like other Labour Members, in particular, seems to like talking about the Scottish Government, who are not answerable to this place, rather than the UK Government, who are. To be fair, I am not surprised. We saw after last night’s debacle that they would rather talk about anything but the Labour Government, who have delivered very little over the past year apart from chaos and a continuation of failed Conservative policies—not much change there.
The fact is that this place still has a profound impact on the Scottish Parliament. It is where the majority of its budget comes from and it has a huge impact on the policies that can be pursued in the Scottish Parliament, as the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) will be well aware as a founding member of that institution, which he rightly highlighted. Scotland is still hampered by migration policies and the hostile environment, as we have witnessed recently at the University of Dundee, whose losses are overwhelmingly attributable to the drop in international students as a direct result of those policies.
I thank the hon. Member so much for giving way so gladly. I have visited universities recently, too, and they also point to the real-terms cut in funding from the Scottish Government having a real impact on their budgets. In the interests of fairness, will he reflect on that too?
I will gladly reflect on that, but I make the point to the hon. Lady—let us take universities as an example—that at the University of Dundee, the difference between Scottish and English fee income would not even have covered the national insurance increase, and that increase was further dwarfed by the reduction in international student income. Under the Conservative Government, universities had been encouraged to go out and recruit internationally, and they were joined in that venture by Ministers before the Conservatives changed their mind.
I am sure that we will all agree that the internationalisation of our universities has been a positive thing. I refer to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests: it has been a privilege to work at the University of St Andrews, where internationalisation enhances both the learning process and the research, making us all better off in the process. However, the changes to migration policy had so great an impact—I am sure that the hon. Member for Gordon and Buchan (Harriet Cross) will agree with me about this—that I asked the Home Secretary to come to Dundee and visit the institution, just to see and learn. She refused. Perhaps the Minister could encourage another Home Office Minister to visit.
I touched earlier on national insurance increases, which are hobbling businesses and therefore growth. Those have a particular impact on small businesses, which cannot expand or recruit. That has been raised not just by me and my SNP colleagues, but by other colleagues in the House. Even though Labour MPs want to do anything but talk about a Labour Government —that is quite telling in its own right—the increases have an impact, and the Labour Government deserve to be held to account.
I used to run a small business. Does the hon. Member acknowledge that interest rates and inflation also have a huge impact on small businesses?
I absolutely acknowledge the impact that inflation and interest rates have had, and the Liz Truss Budget had a huge impact on small businesses as well as mortgage holders—again, a direct consequence of policies that were made here. I would have thought, and the hon. Lady would surely concede, that one would therefore abandon Conservative spending rules, but we have yet to see that.
Another huge consequence of Conservative rule that Labour has taken over, and that is having a huge impact on small businesses, is leaving the European Union. I want to tackle this head on. I was surprised to hear the hon. Member for Dunfermline and Dollar talk about foreign embassies, when he knows fine well that the Welsh, the Northern Irish and the Scots have overseas representative offices. I was astonished to hear him seek to embrace the insularity that I associate with the Conservative party and Reform. Scotland has one of the highest rates of foreign direct investment anywhere in the UK, and we can all encourage and be happy about that.
I agree with the hon. Member about ferry connections, and he was right to highlight the work done on that by his predecessor, Douglas Chapman. Surely, we should encourage connectivity with the rest of the European Union, but Labour continues to follow the Conservatives’ mantra of a hard Brexit.
Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan says that Brexit is costing the Exchequer £40 billion, so before I bring the hon. Member in—I will do so, because he was very fair—I want to ask the Minister this: if it is costing the Exchequer £40 billion, what impact is it having on the devolution settlement?
Just to clarify, there was a ferry from Rosyth to Europe when the SNP was in power. The SNP failed to support it previously, and has taken no action to investigate the legal issues around border control, which are believed by many to be a problem that the Scottish Government could solve. Once again, they have been content to blame the UK Government, without even investigating the problem themselves, when in fact they could have worked constructively either with the previous Conservative Government or with this Government to overcome it.
The hon. Member talks about border control. Obviously, I am not in the Scottish Government.
The hon. Member is very kind in apparently conceding next year’s election already. I am quite surprised by that; he may have given up on it, but I think we should all be competing.
The hon. Member talks about the Scottish border. The border is obviously devolved to Westminster, so because we are holding Westminster to account, I ask the Minister to tackle the border issue as well. We are right to have greater connectivity and to be bringing down barriers with our European partners, so why on earth are we not going back into the single market and the customs union? After all, that was the compromise that Scottish Labour itself backed in the Scottish Parliament in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum. What on earth has gone so right that Labour has abandoned that policy and embraced the Conservative policy? I would be astonished to find out, and I wonder whether the Minister can tell us. Some thought and analysis would be helpful.
The real-terms increase in the budget looks like 0.8%—lower than the UK departmental average of 1.5%. That does not sound like much but would mean £1.1 billion less to spend by 2028-29. As I have mentioned to the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, the Fraser of Allendar Institute has called out Labour MPs’ claims as “neither transparent nor helpful”.
This place matters. As I said, we know that the Scottish Government have a national insurance shortfall as a consequence of the policies being brought in by Westminster, and we have not even got round to last night’s welfare changes, which left the Scottish Labour party high and dry. With the honourable exception of the hon. Member for Glenrothes and Mid Fife (Richard Baker), who, as I understand it, signed the original motion but did not follow through in the debate, Scottish Labour was marched up to the top of the hill by the Prime Minister to be left high and dry.
We were told that the welfare reforms proposed before all the changes yesterday would push 150,000 more people into poverty. A Labour Government pushing more people into poverty—astonishing. Although there have been changes, because of the profound impact on the job of the Scottish Government, whose Scottish child payment is helping to reduce poverty, they are still hampered by what goes on here. If the Minister prioritises nothing else that I have said, I ask her to prioritise this: where are we with the welfare changes and how many people does she now expect to be pushed into poverty?
As I mentioned the hon. Member, it is only fair to give way.
I might say that Labour Members have had rather more impact on Government policy than SNP Members. The hon. Gentleman makes important points about welfare and the importance of having the right system to get people back into work. Why, then, did his Government in Holyrood, of which he aspires to be a member, cut investment in employability funding?
Order. This debate is not really about welfare in Scotland; it is about the spending review. [Interruption.] I take the point, but I would like the remarks to be tailored to the subject at hand.
You are quite right, Sir John. It surprises me that the Labour party does not want to talk about a Labour Government, but then the fact that they lost, or nearly lost, that kind of vote after less than a year gives us some idea of the impact of what has happened over the past year.
This is my appeal to the Labour party: why not do some of the things it actually believes in and try to bring about real change, be that on Brexit or the fiscal rules, rather than just being a continuation of the Conservative party? The Government cannot continue to ask the Scottish Government to offset the damage done by Westminster on Women Against State Pension Inequality, as was called for, winter fuel, the two-child cap, the bedroom tax and so on. The Scottish Labour leader said that he would not bring in any of last night’s welfare changes, once again expecting Scotland to offset the damage that has been done here.
Whether I like it or not, this place still matters to what goes on in Scotland. I ask the Minister to look at these areas. Can she give us answers on the Acorn project, which I will chuck in as well—we know how much money is going south of the border, so does she know how much will go north of the border, and in particular on the welfare changes, given the significant impact on the Scottish Government’s budget?
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John, and to speak in today’s debate; I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie) on securing it. This spending review marks a turning point for Scotland. After years of stagnation under two failing Governments—the Tories in Westminster and the SNP in Holyrood—this UK Labour Government are delivering the change that Scotland so desperately needs. This is the most generous funding settlement for Scotland in the history of devolution. Over the next three years, the Scottish Government will receive an extra £9.1 billion for public services in Scotland. That is not rhetoric—that is real investment. Labour is ending austerity and restoring fairness.
That record money is a powerful opportunity to rebuild Scotland’s NHS, our schools, our transport system and our housing stock. The problem is that we cannot trust the SNP Government to use that money wisely. For too long, Scotland has seen taxpayers’ money squandered by a Government with no strategy and no clue what they are doing. After almost two decades in power, the SNP have lost their way and have now failed to deliver on the basic promise of competent government. They declared a housing emergency then slashed the housing budget. They promised 130,000 green jobs by 2020 and delivered almost none. They pledged £80 million for the Acorn carbon capture and storage project in 2022, and that money remains unpaid. Locally, residents, the local NHS and clinicians have all said that the East Calder medical centre needs to be replaced. The SNP Government have given warm words to that community, but they have nowhere near delivered anything. They have the money now to deliver a new medical centre in East Calder. They should get on and do it.
Meanwhile, the UK Labour Government are investing in our clean energy future, with £2.3 billion for nuclear energy and SMRs, but the SNP’s ideological block to new nuclear power means Scotland is missing out on jobs and investment.
The hon. Gentleman talks about ideological blocks. The oil and gas sector, as he well knows, is crucial to Scotland, especially to the north-east of Scotland. Allowing it to flourish and to be supported into the future will have just as much of an economic benefit. Will he reflect on that and perhaps have a word with his Front Benchers, to try to persuade them that supporting the oil and gas sector has benefits for the whole of Scotland and the UK, particularly at the moment, when we are suffering so much with economic growth?
I agree with the hon. Lady on that point; I think the oil and gas sector is vital. I am on the record saying that I support Rosebank and Jackdaw, and I think we should get on and do it. We need to invest in that sector, because ultimately, those are the people with the skills and supply chains that will allow us to transition to the green jobs of the future, at the same time as securing jobs now. I agree with much of what she said.
The SNP Government have presided over an NHS in crisis, with one in six Scots on a waiting list and a generation of young people growing up in temporary accommodation. They have no plan and no urgency, and we have seen absolutely no progress. That is why next year’s Scottish Parliament election is so important. If Scotland is to make the most of this historic Labour investment, we need a Scottish Government we can trust, and that means voting for change. It means voting for a Scottish Labour Government. When Labour governs, we do not just talk about fairness; we fund it and deliver it.
Let me turn to what the spending review means for my Livingston constituency. I am proud to represent a community with ambition and innovation at its core. Now, thanks to Labour’s investment, that potential has been matched by real support. The Falkirk and Grangemouth growth deal, with £100 million in joint funding for both the UK and Scottish Governments, is a huge vote of confidence in our region’s industrial future. Grangemouth, just down the road, is key to Scotland’s energy transition, and the Labour Government are stepping up where others have failed.
The spending review also confirms £750 million for a new national supercomputer in Edinburgh, which places Scotland at the forefront of high-performance computing. That is not abstract. It means new opportunities for medtech, life sciences and clean tech industries in my constituency. These are well-paid, high-skill, high-quality jobs for my constituents. Scotland is also now benefiting from £8.3 billion for Great British Energy, headquartered in Aberdeen, ensuring that we lead the world in clean, affordable and home-grown energy. For our communities, the spending review has delivered £234 million in new local investment funds, empowering towns and local councils to invest in what really matters to people: revitalising high streets, upgrading infrastructure and supporting jobs and investment.
Let us not forget our role in global trade, too. Thanks to the Government’s leadership, new trade deals are opening doors for iconic Scottish products. In India, Scotch whisky, our largest export, is getting a tariff cut, boosting a £180 million market. US steel tariffs have come down, helping manufacturing jobs across the UK, including in Scotland.
That is what serious government looks like: ambition backed by delivery, and investment guided by our values. The spending review represents a huge opportunity for Scotland, but only if we have a Government in Holyrood who can rise to the moment, and that means change. The SNP Government have had their chance, and after nearly two decades, frankly, if they were going to fix our NHS, deliver green jobs or improve education, they would have done it by now. They did not, they cannot and they will not. It is time for a Scottish Labour Government who will.
It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie) on securing this important debate. His constituents could not have a more doughty and effective champion in this place.
As a fellow Fife MP, I was particularly pleased to hear my hon. Friend address how the people of the kingdom will reap the rewards of the Government’s investment in Scotland and in their potential. That is in sharp contrast to the litany of failures they have had to endure under the barely managed decline, for which the Scottish National party is culpable, in Holyrood. I will return to these points later, while maintaining a laser focus on the spending review. But being in good spirits and savouring the cooler weather, for which we Scots are rather better equipped, let me focus first on the sunny uplands of the spending review and its great potential for Scotland.
I know we will hear more from the Minister on its importance for our country and how it will support the excellent work that she is taking forward in Government for Scotland. She does this along with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland, who has shown what a brilliant champion he is for Scotland in Cabinet. I will focus on the opportunities the spending review creates in my constituency.
My hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and Dollar outlined the scale of the overall investment that the Chancellor announced in the spending review for Scotland and how vital that is for public services and growing our economy across the country. Specific areas of investment are of particular importance for Glenrothes and Mid Fife. We have a thriving and growing renewables sector in the constituency, and the confirmation of the full £8.3 billion for GB Energy is great news for renewable energy businesses in our area and will create opportunities and employment.
At Earlseat wind farm, apprenticeships are being created in local renewables businesses through community benefit funding provided by its operator Renewable Energy Systems and a pioneering collaboration with Fife college. It was great to meet some of the apprentices at the wind farm, who will have great opportunities in the future as a result of that funding. Investing in renewables is also fantastic news for the Methil shipyard, which was saved by this Government. Its facilities and skilled workforce are ideally placed for contracts in renewables infrastructure and to deliver key programmes set out in the strategic defence review, which presents great opportunities for Scotland, as my hon. Friend said.
I am also particularly delighted that the Chancellor has confirmed development funding for the Acorn project. I agree with the hon. Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry (Stephen Gethins) that it is a very important scheme for Scotland, for which many of us across the Chamber campaigned. It will not only be vital for our renewables targets, but create and sustain thousands of jobs throughout Scotland. It is also a brilliant opportunity for two biomass plants in my constituency to maximise their contribution to carbon reduction in the future.
All that comes along with additional funding for investment zones and in our communities. With an extra £9.1 billion for public services in Scotland over the next three years, there can no longer be any excuses for SNP Ministers failing to deliver the public services our constituents need and deserve. Unfortunately, where we need to see delivery and improvements, all we seem to see are excuses. We have record funding for housing provided by this Government, but a housing emergency has been declared in Fife after funding cuts by the Scottish Government.
We have record funding provided for our NHS by this Government, and falling waiting lists in England for the first time in many years, but in Fife, my constituents face some of the longest waiting times for surgery anywhere in Scotland. In the NHS in England, we see investment in 700,000 additional urgent appointments for dental patients, but in Fife, we have a dental desert, where, too often, my constituents cannot find any dentist to register with, let alone an NHS one.
We have record spending set out in the spending review for NHS infrastructure, yet after more than a decade of broken promises to the people of Lochgelly by SNP Ministers, they still do not have the new health centre that their community desperately needs. No wonder so many people in Scotland want a change of direction in Holyrood. This is the prospectus that Anas Sarwar will set out in the Scottish elections next year, and why our country desperately needs his leadership as our next First Minister.
The spending review shows the ambition that Governments can and should have for Scotland. One of our Governments—this Government—is delivering for Scotland; it is time the other one stepped up to the plate and started delivering the effective leadership our country needs as well.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie) for bringing us such a worthwhile debate.
The spending review confirmed what we in Scottish Labour have known for a long time—the UK Government can be a positive force for good in Scotland. Soon after the general election, the Labour Government provided the largest real-terms block grant in the history of devolution to the Government in Scotland. The spring statement built on that by increasing direct funding to the Scottish Government and providing a substantial direct investment amounting to more than £9 billion extra for public services over the next three years. In my constituency, the Glasgow city region will see substantial investment in Renfrewshire, and in particular in the innovation district around Glasgow airport. I regularly meet innovative companies in my constituency, and they are ready to make use of that investment to create jobs and opportunities across the city region.
Hard on the heels of the spring statement came the publication of the Government’s industrial strategy, which identifies a key growth opportunity for UK aerospace in securing a British engine position on the next generation of single-aisle aircraft. The Rolls-Royce factory in my constituency is set to play an important role in manufacturing the components for the engines, and that will secure high-value skills and jobs. The spending review delivered on the Government’s commitment to economic growth by tackling the long-term effects of low pay and low growth that have stymied Scotland’s ambitions for far too long. Is it too much to hope that the national Government in Edinburgh will take the opportunity of their final year in power to wake up to the opportunity that lies ahead?
The hon. Member mentioned low growth. We know that growth has been hampered by our being outside the single market and the customs union—that is not just my analysis but that of most economists—so can she tell me why Scottish Labour has abandoned the policy it adopted after the Brexit referendum of rejoining the single market and the customs union?
I completely disagree with the hon. Gentleman. In my view, low growth in Scotland has been related to the threat of a second independence referendum, and I would put the blame for the low growth firmly in the hon. Gentleman’s hands.
I sincerely hope that the Scottish National party will wake up to that opportunity in its last year in government, but the last 18 years have offered little evidence that it will. A former Member of this House and a former First Minister, the right hon. Alex Salmond, was very fond of repeating these lines of Burns, although Members will excuse me if I do not deliver them as well as he did:
“But facts are chiels that winna ding,
An’ downa be disputed”
These are the facts: 10,000 children live in temporary accommodation in Scotland; one in six Scots is on NHS waiting lists; Scottish GDP is trailing behind the rest of the UK by nearly £3,000 per person; and the SNP Scottish Government have overseen an unacceptable fall in educational attainment. In fact, their report card is a fail.
The spending review puts an end to the excuses. With my apologies to John F Kennedy, the nationalists need to stop asking, “What can my country do for me?” and start asking, “What can I do for my country?” They need to stop asking, “How can we blame someone else?” and start asking, “How can we build a better life for the people of Scotland?” They need to stop calculating what they think will be best for the cause of separation, and start calculating how to use the opportunity of the spending review to get people the jobs they need and the future they deserve.
It is an honour to serve with you in the chair, Sir John. I congratulate the hon. Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie) on securing this debate. I apologise to you, Sir John, because I appreciate that it is frustrating that every debate about Scotland, and about this or the previous Government’s spending in Scotland, comes back to the Scottish Government. The debate is rarely about the Scottish people—about my constituents in Edinburgh West, or our constituents across Scotland. It always comes back to the Scottish Government. That is not necessarily the fault of the Labour party, the Conservative party or the SNP, but it does not seem to matter how much money the UK Government invest in Scotland, what projects they undertake, what the spending review promises or how much money there is in Barnett consequentials—it gets squandered. As my hon. Friend the Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) said, it never seems to reach the people of Scotland. It never seems to do anything about our crumbling NHS, our schools, which are in trouble, and the housing crisis that we face.
Although the specific subject under discussion is the spending review announced by the Labour Government, for us in Scotland the debate is about the frustration that we may not get the benefit that any UK Government intend for Scotland, with any policy, because it gets blocked in Holyrood. I hate to mention that again, but £9.1 billion, however one might contest it—it might not be quite £9.1 billion—is a lot of money for the SNP Government to squander, because squander it they will. We have only to look at the evidence of the infamous and now even later ferries, which seem to fail at every turn. The money wasted by the SNP on that fiasco could have paid for around 11,000 nurses or 3,000 GPs in our NHS. That is why we are so frustrated, and why we turn again and again to the Scottish Government, and their failure to use the resources given them by Westminster.
The hon. Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry (Stephen Gethins) says that this place continues to have a huge impact—so it should, but that impact is undermined at every turn by the Scottish Government.
Given that we sit in the UK Parliament, does the hon. Member concede that the numbers she mentions are absolutely dwarfed by the billions on Brexit, the hundreds of millions on Rwanda, and the billions blown by the Truss Budget, all of which will have had a material impact on the amount of money that the UK Government have to give up to Scotland? Furthermore, does she agree that the Scottish Government offsetting welfare cuts, the bedroom tax, and child poverty, as they have done—and I believe the Liberal Democrats backed that—was a good use of money?
No, I do not, actually. I agree fundamentally that the UK Government, whether Conservative or Labour, have not got everything right. But the Scottish Government have done nothing to mitigate any of the, if you like, failings of Westminster. They have done nothing to mitigate them, and have exacerbated every problem in Scotland. There is not a single area of the Scottish economy, or of Scottish education, health, or public services that one can look at, over the past two decades, and say, “Wow, didn’t the Scottish Government make a good job of that? Didn’t they spend the money well?” Just ask the constituents who I spoke to on Sunday night in Edinburgh West, who told me that they are sick to the back teeth of the SNP wasting their money—two decades they have had of it.
No, sorry. I am running out of time.
It would be churlish of me not to recognise that there have been benefits from the spending review for my constituents. I welcome the £750 million investment in the exascale supercomputer, because a lot of my constituents work at the University of Edinburgh. The investment in defence spending will help my constituents who work in the defence industries in Edinburgh. I hope that the £9.1 billion—or however much—that will be invested in Scotland over the next few years helps by investing in the projects that the Liberal Democrats in Scotland have managed to get into the budget for the coming years. The investment in the Princess Alexandra eye pavilion in Edinburgh is one that is particularly close to my heart, because my constituents have suffered from the SNP’s lack of investment there.
In brief, we welcome a lot of the aspects of the spending review in Scotland. We welcome the extra funding, but we view with frustration and some trepidation how the Scottish Government might waste it.
It is an absolute pleasure to serve under your chairmanship today, Sir John, and I thank you for your patience and indulgence in chairing this debate.
It is almost a through-the-looking-glass moment this morning, listening to the Labour party criticising the Scottish Government for their decisions and the Scottish National party representative, the hon. Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry (Stephen Gethins), criticising the Labour Government for the SNP’s decisions. For all of us, it has been an interesting morning after the night before.
Scotland is struggling with the consequences of the Labour Government’s economic incompetence: taxes for businesses up, growth down, unemployment up and business confidence down. Scottish Financial Enterprise has warned:
“The current inflationary pressures, coupled with stagnant productivity and increasing levels of tax, pose significant headwinds to business investment.”
And that was before the charade—the farcical scenes—that we saw yesterday, which will inevitably mean more tax rises coming down the tracks in the autumn.
Is it not the reality that economic growth is increasing under this Labour Government, in rather sharp contrast to the experiences of hon. Members under Liz Truss, which I think were somewhat different for the whole country, including Scotland?
The hon. Member will recall that when the Conservative Government left office in July 2024, we had the fastest growing economy in the G7. He will also surely acknowledge that as a direct result of decisions taken by his Chancellor and his Government, growth has halved since Labour got into power. That is not a record of which he should be proud. Labour is growing the economy by far less than we had expected to grow the economy by when we left office. Surely he can acknowledge, because his name was on an amendment yesterday, that some of the decisions taken by his Government have been to the detriment of this country and its economic growth.
Hon. Members should not take my word for it. Unite the Union has said that this Government have placed the oil and gas industry on a “cliff edge”. The Scotch Whisky Association said the increase in spirits duty was a “hammer blow”. The Scottish Hospitality Group called the Budget last year
“a blow to businesses across the country”.
The National Farmers Union of Scotland has made it clear that this Government’s decisions will cause “huge difficulties” to the agricultural sector in Scotland, because the family farms tax is devastating farms in Scotland. This is a Government who do not understand rural Scotland, and they clearly do not care to.
National insurance contributions are up, increasing costs to businesses across the country. In my constituency of West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, the conversations that I have had since the Chancellor’s disastrous Budget last October have revolved around reducing headcount and reducing ambition for expansion, which I know is an experience shared by just about every Member of this Parliament. With the Government’s Employment Rights Bill coming down the tracks, we will see the burden on businesses increase still further and growth shrink.
Business confidence across the entire United Kingdom is falling dramatically, and that is especially the case in Scotland. This Labour Government do not understand business and they have decided not to prioritise growth or prosperity. The chief executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise was right to urge recognition that the UK Government cannot tax their way to economic growth and sustainable growth.
As for the Scottish Government, the SNP has presided over 17 years of mismanagement during its tenure. Economic growth in Scotland has been consistently lower than it has been south of the border. There is no excuse. Higher income tax rates are driving away talent, there is a failure to pass on the savings from business rates, and there have been madcap schemes that undermine the UK internal market, such as the ill-conceived deposit return scheme. At every turn, the Scottish Government seek to make business in Scotland less profitable, less productive and less competitive.
Now, on top of all that, we have to add the spending review from this UK Government, which, the Scottish Hospitality Group declared does “absolutely nothing” to support its sector. The Federation of Small Businesses said that the spending review
“was not the business-focused day”
that it had hoped for. Unite the Union said that the spending review
“lacks the vision to deliver the fundamental change needed for everyday people”
and that it was a
“missed opportunity to lay out the funding to tackle key issues, including the energy costs crippling British industry”.
It is clear that this Chancellor’s spending review does not deliver for Scots, Scotland or Scottish business.
Although we welcome the Government’s commitment to defence and spending on new nuclear, it is evident that rural Scotland—aspirational Scotland—is being ignored, overlooked and left behind by the socialist Government in London and wilfully driven into the ground by a nationalist Government in Edinburgh. The Fraser of Allander Institute has described the spending review as a “rollercoaster”, with short-term boosts followed by real-terms cuts in later years.
We welcome the Government’s commitment to increase defence spending. In a time of increasing uncertainty, it is essential that we have the domestic capacity, supply chain, resources and skilled personnel to defend this country. The continued investment in the Dreadnought-class submarines is essential, and I am incredibly proud that this fleet is hosted in Scotland, at HM Naval Base Clyde. Just last week I was in Rosyth, in the constituency of the hon. Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie), to see the missile tubes for the Dreadnought-class submarines and the Columbia-class submarines for the United States being constructed by the incredibly skilled workforce at that Babcock yard. This programme is expected to support thousands of jobs in Scotland.
However, serious questions about defence spending remain unanswered. The Government have still not clarified whether the Chagos deal moneys will be classified as defence spending, and they have given no indication of how they will reach the 3% and now 5% commitment to defence spending overall. After yesterday’s farcical scenes, which failed to save the Government any money whatsoever, we have no idea how they will meet the commitments signed up to at NATO just last week.
The oil and gas industry, which is incredibly important to my part of the country, has been let down year after year by the Scottish nationalists, who had a policy of presumption against new oil and gas. If left to the SNP Government, they would have shut down the industry yesterday—and it looks like, with the Labour party in charge, they will get their way. By increasing the energy profits levy, removing investment allowances and abolishing new exploration licences, this Government have signalled that the North sea is uninvestable and the oil and gas industry in Scotland is closed for business.
This industry is vital to the economy of Scotland and the United Kingdom, with a supply chain spanning the entire country and with roots in every single constituency. But this Government’s total ignorance of the oil and gas industry and the north-east of Scotland, their incompetence on the economy and their disregard for the hundreds of thousands of workers in the North sea, as well as their dangerous ineptitude when it comes to our energy security, are deeply damaging.
I turn to the trumpeted invention of the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Great British Energy. I find it difficult to muster any enthusiasm or optimism. With the ongoing ambiguity over the company’s purpose and scope, the Government still cannot answer the basic question of what on earth this organisation is going to achieve, how many people it will employ and what it will do in the long run. While we welcome the announcement of an award to Rolls-Royce for the delivery of small modular reactors following the down-selection process that I proudly launched when in government, we regret deeply that the Scottish nationalists’ luddite opposition to new nuclear—to clean power and to opportunity for Scotland—means that those benefits will not be seen north of the border.
There are some positive notes. Confirmation that Edinburgh University will host the UK’s most powerful supercomputer, paving the way for leadership in artificial intelligence and computing, is welcome, but this followed a delay of almost a year, after the Labour Government announced the cancellation of the project, which was unveiled by the Conservative Government just last year.
Thank you, Sir John, for your patience and indulgence this morning. I, along with many Scots, am bitterly disappointed. Scotland has been let down for 17 years by a failing nationalist Government in Edinburgh, and now it is being severely let down by a Labour Government here in London as well.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie) on securing this debate on the impact of the spending review on Scotland, on all his advocacy on behalf of his constituents and on gifting us his deep experience, expertise and commitment to defence and national security.
This was, indeed, a historic spending review for Scotland. The UK has faced a decade and a half of poor productivity, weak economic growth and deteriorating outcomes in public services. The first job of this Government was to stabilise the British economy and clear up the public finances. The decisions this Government have taken since taking office have been tough but have been proven to be the right ones. Now that the economy is on a more stable footing, the task of the Government is to ensure that the British economy delivers for working people once again, and the spending review continues this renewal.
The Chancellor has unleashed a new era of growth for Scotland. Our economy is integral to unlocking growth across the whole UK, with Scotland’s economy already worth £204 billion per year. The spending review announced targeted investment in Scotland’s most promising sectors to grow the economy and put more money in working people’s pockets.
In the first instance, I will focus on the areas that Members have asked direct questions about today. The hon. Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry (Stephen Gethins) asked whether we can bring a Home Office Minister to Scotland to hear directly from higher education. Newsflash: we already have. The immigration Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Feltham and Heston (Seema Malhotra), came earlier this year at my invitation and met Universities Scotland and representatives of our farming communities, which led very quickly to changes in the seasonal agricultural workers visa. That is what happens when Scottish Labour MPs are at the beating heart of Government and are able to issue invitations to a Government who are entirely committed to delivering for Scotland.
I know the Minister was asked a lot of questions, and I thank her for that answer, but what I asked was whether she would come to the University of Dundee to see for herself the profound impact of these policies. There has been a good Scottish bail-out from the Scottish Government, which is welcome, but will a Home Office Minister come to Dundee?
I would be delighted to come to Dundee and hear from people directly, but I say gently to the hon. Gentleman that problems at the University of Dundee are a function of the decision making of a number of people, not least the university itself and the Scottish Government. I would of course be delighted to be in ongoing dialogue with it.
The hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine (Andrew Bowie) is a welcome new convert to the trade union cause. I would be delighted to pass on his best wishes to Sharon Graham and my fellow members of Unite, and I look forward to his backing for the new deal for working people. As he knows, the job of trade unionists and all those who are pro-trade union in the Government is to make sure the economy delivers for working people. That is exactly what we intend to do.
The hon. Gentleman acknowledged that we live in challenging times. The Prime Minister has said that we will up our game on defence, and the Chancellor reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to increase defence spending to 2.6% of GDP by April 2027. We are backing our armed forces, creating British jobs in British industries and prioritising the security of Britain when it is most needed.
Scotland is playing a leading role at the beating heart of the UK defence policy. The long-term future of the Clyde has been secured through an initial £250 million investment over three years, which will begin a multi-decade, multi-billion-pound redevelopment of HM Naval Base Clyde through the Clyde 2070 programme. HM Naval Base Clyde will play a crucial role for decades to come as we restore Britain’s readiness, deter our adversaries and help drive economic growth across the UK, including in Scotland, as part of our plan for change. As Members know, Scotland is already a centre of excellence for shipbuilding. The increased defence spending will see investment in UK sovereign capability, including in shipbuilding and naval technology. Further details will be set out in the defence investment plan later in the year.
My hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and Dollar made an important point about a defence growth deal. The forthcoming defence sector plan will outline how we will reform, grow and innovate to build our defence industrial base, scale small and medium-sized companies and create industrial leaders. The Secretary of State and I are of course working closely with colleagues across Government and in the Cabinet to maximise the benefits for Scotland.
I received a number of questions and representations about local growth. I assure hon. Members that the UK Government intend to ensure that every single part of Scotland benefits from the spending review. We are investing £1.7 billion in local communities over 10 years. The Government are investing £160 million over 10 years in investment zones in the north-east of Scotland and the Glasgow city region. At the spending review, the Chancellor confirmed £452 million over four years for city region and growth deals across Scotland, including a £100 million joint investment for the Falkirk and Grangemouth growth deal with the Scottish Government —£50 million from the UK Government and £50 million from the Scottish Government. That demonstrates the UK Government’s continued commitment to the Grangemouth industrial area.
The growth deal for Argyll and Bute was signed on 10 March, which means that every part of Scotland is now benefiting from our city, region and growth deal programme. A new local growth fund and investments in up to 350 deprived communities across the UK will maintain the same cash levels as in 2025-26, under the shared prosperity fund.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Scotland Office will work with local partners and the Scottish Government to ensure that money goes to projects that matter to local people. That investment will help drive growth and improve communities across Scotland. I am delighted that the spending review also confirmed in-flight commitments, including for Drumchapel town centre regeneration, and as well as funding for the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes in 2027, when the Grand Départ will take place in Scotland.
The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) asked whether we will ensure that areas that have been historically underinvested in will get their fair share. I assure him that we are looking at both need and potential in allocations. I also repeat an undertaking that I gave on the Floor of the House: we are looking at increasing trade between Scotland and Northern Ireland, and I am delighted to be looking at that in the coming weeks.
My hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North (Martin Rhodes) asked what is to be done about devolution not to Scotland, but inside Scotland. I say to him that devolution is a habit of mind—one that the Scottish Government never acquired. They have been a hugely centralising Government, to the detriment of the Scottish people. I am delighted to reconfirm Scottish Labour’s commitment to further devolution inside Scotland today.
This spending review delivers support for Scottish businesses. The National Wealth Fund is trialling a strategic partnership with Glasgow city region, providing enhanced, hands-on support to help it develop and finance long-term investment opportunities. I was delighted to hear from my hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North (Alison Taylor) about how people are taking advantage of that in her constituency.
The settlement for investment in the spending review allocated £750,000 each year to champion Brand Scotland trade missions to make sure that we are getting inward investment and exporting. Last year, the Secretary of State for Scotland made successful trips to Norway and south-east Asia; in April, he travelled to Washington DC and New York. In the United States, he met with business leaders and investors, promoted our world-class culture and took part in Tartan Week with members of the Scottish diaspora. In May, the Secretary of State launched the Brand Scotland fund, offering the UK’s international network grants of up to £20,000 for innovative and creative activities to market Scotland overseas.
It was my privilege to be in Spain at the start of June with 16 Scottish female entrepreneurs to maximise the benefits of the recent UK-EU deal, tackle the Scottish gender export gap, promote Brand Scotland’s iconic goods and services, and encourage Spanish investment into Scotland. The Scotland Office director also recently supported a Glasgow chamber of commerce trade mission to Shanghai and over the next financial year will deliver a number of overseas trade missions and collaborations with the Scottish Chambers of Commerce and other key industry stakeholders.
My hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and Dollar asked about US immigration pre-clearance at Edinburgh airport. The Scotland Office is aware of that issue and has supported Edinburgh airport in discussions with the Home Office, Department for Business and Trade and US authorities. We have also engaged directly with the US Government officials on this issue. Although I agree it would be a welcome development for Edinburgh airport, it is not currently US policy to extend pre-clearance arrangements in this way—but we will continue to engage with them going forward.
My hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and Dollar also raised Rosyth and Dunkirk shipping routes. My officials are in touch with the company behind the new proposed route and relevant Scottish Government and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs officials. They are looking to arrange a meeting as early as next week to look at possible solutions that would allow the project to go ahead. Scotland is playing a key role as part of our industrial strategy. We have demonstrable strength in eight of the key sectors. The accompanying industrial strategy sector plans will promote Scotland’s wide-ranging strength to investors.
I turn to energy. Working people from across Scotland will benefit from significant investments in clean energy and innovation, creating thousands of highly skilled jobs and strengthening Scotland’s position as the home of the United Kingdom’s clean energy revolution. As my hon. Friend the Member for Glenrothes and Mid Fife (Richard Baker) pointed out, the UK Government have confirmed £8.3 billion in funding for GB Energy in Aberdeen. That is alongside an increased commitment to the Acorn carbon capture usage and storage project, which—I am pleased to confirm for the hon. Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry—will receive £200 million in development funding, and the wider funding will be announced in due course. We believe that carbon capture and storage is critical for the UK’s future energy security and industrial ambitions, and recognise the importance of the role that it can play in securing growth and our clean power future.
My hon. Friend the Member for Livingston (Gregor Poynton) and the hon. Member for Gordon and Buchan (Harriet Cross) asked about the future of oil and gas. This Government have been clear that that will be part of the mix for decades to come, but that we have to invest in the transition so that people can get renewable jobs of the future. That is why I was pleased earlier this year to launch the energy skills passport when I was in Aberdeen.
The spending review also allocated significant investment in Scotland’s trailblazing innovation, research and development sectors, including—say it with me— £750 million for the supercomputing facility at Edinburgh University. To clear up any confusion for the record, what happened last year was not that this UK Labour Government cancelled the project; they put it on pause, because the previous Conservative Government had announced the project and not allocated a single penny to its realisation. Taking the responsible course, we took a year to make sure that it could be funded in full, and I believe Edinburgh University is delighted that we have now secured that funding.
Like the hon. Members for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) and for Edinburgh West (Christine Jardine), I am a committed devolutionist, and I share their despair that the Scottish Government are absolutely addicted to wasting money. That notwithstanding, this Government are responsibly committed to resetting the relationship, so that we can make representations to ensure the best results for the people of Scotland.
I thank the Minister for giving way; she is being generous with her time. She talks about resetting the relationship, but I have one thing in particular to ask. I am sure that she and her colleagues think that last night was a triumph with the welfare reforms, but they will have a direct impact on the Scottish Government by pushing people into poverty. What assessment has the Minister made of last night’s vote and its impact on the devolution settlement?
We are in ongoing conversation with the Scottish Government on all manner of policies where there is an interplay between reserved and devolved matters. The Scottish Government have been offered all manner of briefings, including—I repeat my disappointment about this—a briefing for the First Minister on the strategic defence review, which he refused because he wanted to go campaigning in Hamilton—and a fat lot of good that did him.
The UK Government’s plan for change has delivered a record settlement for the Scottish Government. There is more money than ever before for them to invest in Scottish public services such as our NHS, police, housing and schools. The Scottish Government will continue to get more than 20% more funding per head than the equivalent UK Government spending in the rest of the UK. The hon. Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry cited a phrase from the Fraser of Allander Institute, but I note that he did not cite it saying that “you’d be hard pressed” to say that Scotland has been short-changed compared with
“UK Government departments with comparable responsibilities”.
The Fraser of Allander Institute recognises a record settlement when it sees one.
While I am responding to the hon. Member, I almost felt that there was a dare when he said that we do not want to talk about Labour’s record. I would be delighted to do that. As we approach the first anniversary of this Labour Government, I am proud of the new deal for working people, GB Energy, three trade deals, four interest rate cuts, record investment in Scotland’s devolution era into the Scottish Government and the protection of jobs for which this Government have been responsible, including at the behest of our colleagues in Arnish and Methil. I am proud that this is a Government with Scotland at its beating heart.
In conclusion, the UK Government are delivering for people and communities in Scotland. This is a truly historic spending review for Scotland, choosing investment over decline and delivering on the promise that there would be no return to austerity with Labour. It puts Scotland at the heart of our growth missions, creates huge opportunities for us in the industries of the future and helps us to rebuild Britain. It invests in Britain’s renewal and prioritises the UK’s security, health and economic growth. This spending review delivered investment in Scotland’s communities and industries that the Conservatives never would, and the SNP never could.
As others have said, Sir John, I thank you very much for your patience this morning. After a previous, similar Westminster Hall debate a number of months ago, a colleague said that chairing it was like being a stranger walking in and trying to moderate a fight at a Scottish wedding. I suspect that is how someone sitting in that Chair feels when these debates happen. I thank everyone for their participation this morning; it has been quite an encouraging debate, and there were even, occasionally, moments of agreement—something that in my experience rarely happens at a Scottish wedding. Occasionally, they agree on “I do”, and not very much more.
I will respond briefly to some of the contributions that were made. I have heard the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) describe the maternity services in his constituency a number of times, and I hope he continues to do so until we finally see a solution there. It is utterly unacceptable that women find themselves in that very dangerous position, and I hope that there is good feeling and good will from the Scottish Government to solve those real problems.
My hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North (Martin Rhodes) discussed Glasgow’s potential. As someone who was born in Edinburgh and now lives in Fife, I have to say that the east coast obviously has much greater potential, but I am happy for Glasgow to come a close second.
As ever, it was good to hear the hon. Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry (Stephen Gethins), whom I have known for a number of years. It is always interesting to listen to him, and it was good to hear the latest stump speech for his campaign in Dundee next year.
My hon. Friends the Members for Livingston (Gregor Poynton) and for Glenrothes and Mid Fife (Richard Baker) highlighted problems around GP surgeries—again, a failure of the SNP. As I mentioned in my speech, we have seen the same in Kincardine in my constituency. My hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North (Alison Taylor) shared an interest in the potential of aviation to create economic growth.
I was delighted to hear from the Minister that more will be done on the defence growth deal. I ask her in particular to consider the potential of Fife in those discussions, so that we are providing opportunities for young people around skills, which Fife can provide in defence and related sectors, such as renewable energy and other technical skills. Again, the Scottish Government have not really established their credentials on providing the right technical skills, which people in many of our communities want in order to fulfil their potential.
Finally, I was particularly pleased to hear about the meeting that could take place as soon as next week about the Rosyth to Dunkirk ferry. I genuinely believe that there is good will to find a solution. It is frustrating that it has taken so long and that previous Governments were unable to get together; that harks back to the need to reset the relationship. We can build solutions, and there should not be barriers.
I thank everyone for participating, and thank you again, Sir John.
Question put and agreed to.
Resolved,
That this House has considered the impact of the Spending Review 2025 on Scotland.