Tory Government would delay cuts in Scotland for a year

The Scotland on Sunday newspaper is reporting that Shadow Chancellor George Osborne would delay the Scottish Budget cuts for a year if the Conservatives win the General Election.

So is this going to win them extra votes or is it for political advantage against the SNP and Labour? and from a Welsh perspective are there similar plans for the Welsh Budget since George Osborne has already said our needs are greater on his recent visit to Cardiff, no I didn’t think so either.

The articles starts ‘The Scottish Government's £30 billion budget for 2010/11 will be excluded from the round of cuts that the Conservatives will impose on the rest of the UK if they win the election.

In the first concession of its type to be given by the Treasury to Scotland, the shadow chancellor said he was prepared to postpone the cuts in Scotland for a year out of "respect" for the Holyrood budget.

Osborne warned, however, that in the long run Scotland would still have to bear its share of the pain, raising the prospect of savage cuts to the public sector after the 2011 Scottish election.

Although the Scottish Government will be given the option of sticking to its original budget for 2010/11, the savings would eventually have to be found the following financial year in 2011/12.

Usually, cuts in spending at Westminster automatically have a knock-on effect at Holyrood as a result of the Barnett Formula, the mechanism that determines the size of the grant Scotland receives from the Treasury. Osborne's offer, however, would allow the Scottish Government to postpone those cuts.

"Because the Scottish Government and Holyrood has passed a budget for 2010/11, any savings that are going to be required in the Scottish budget… can be delayed until 2011/12," Osborne said.

"They (Scottish ministers] will still have to make those savings, and Scotland, like the rest of the country, has to do its bit to live within our means. But because of Scottish devolution, because we have a settled budget for 2010/11, we are going to respect that and if they want to (they can] delay the savings they would have made in 2010/11 to 2011/12."

Osborne and First Minister Alex Salmond will meet on 30 March in London to discuss the proposal, which has been suggested by the Conservatives after Salmond sought assurances from them that they would not cut the 2010/11 Scottish budget passed by MSPs earlier this year.

I have a feeling this isn't the last we will have heard of this story.Any source