A historic deal has been struck by the United Kingdom and Scottish governments to bring major new tax and welfare powers to Holyrood.
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DAVID Cameron should step in to break the deadlock over fiscal framework talks the First Minister has said.
It now appears she has signed up to a transitional deal with automatic adjustments to the block grant ensuring there is no detriment to Scotland – but this will be reviewed in five years.
Mr Osborne said: “This enables us to deliver on the Vow we made to the Scottish people and delivers one of the most powerful devolved parliaments in the world and the economic and national security that comes from being part of the UK”. Nicola Sturgeon told Holyrood that her government had won some battles and lost others.
Although the arrangements will be reviewed after the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, Ms Sturgeon said the deal means there can be no automatic “default” to the funding mechanism preferred by the Treasury after that date.
The Scottish Tory leader continued: “It has not been easy and compromises have been required by both sides, but today’s deal shows that our two governments can work together for the good of Scotland”.
He described claims by Scottish secretary David Mundell that some new powers could be devolved to Holyrood before 2017 as a “leap of imagination”.
She added: “The challenge to SNP is that grudge and grievance will no longer wash”.
The Prime Minister insisted the agreement was fair to taxpayers north and south of the Border despite it potentially leading to billions of pounds of English income tax coming to Holyrood to compensate for Scotland’s lower population growth.
There will also be £3billion of additional borrowing powers and £200million to introduce all the new changes.
“We will protect family finances and we will demand that the SNP uses these powers to take Scotland forward – not back to yet another referendum”. Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said: “The buck stops with them”.
A new era in Scottish politics is about to begin.
He stated: “The First Minister has still been unable to explain why she has agreed to the Treasury funding model given she has bitterly opposed it for months”.
“There should be no doubt that this was a highly complex package of measures to agree”.
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In a day of weird twists, it is understood Ms Sturgeon and John Swinney, her deputy, declined an invitation to speak to the Chancellor and reach a deal before she made a parliamentary statement in the early afternoon.
