Salmond Demands £400m For Holyrood

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has called on Westminster to transfer £400m to the Scottish government to help boost the country’s economy.

The request was made during a joint meeting with representatives from the Welsh and Northern Irish governments at the Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) in London last week.

Representatives from the UK’s other devolved administrations have backed the Scottish government’s proposals.

The demand was one of many made by Mr Salmond during the meeting, which was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, including better aviation links between Scotland and England and for air passenger duty to be devolved to the Scottish Parliament.


Mr Salmond remarked: "We recognise that action around investment is required now – not in three years’ time.

"That is why I have again urged the Chancellor to perform another budget U-turn by announcing an extra £5 billion in capital investment, which would allow us to provide an additional stimulus of more than £400m to support employment in Scotland now.

"If these projects go ahead now, they would provide a vital support to employment with every additional £100m of capital spending estimated to support around 1,400 jobs across the Scottish economy."

Mr Salmond criticised the London government for, as he saw it, refusing to release the £400m despite complying with Westminster’s request for "a list of projects which were shovel-ready back in March."

He said that "despite providing the list, and repeated requests, no funding has yet been provided.

"The lack of action is completely unacceptable. That is why the devolved administrations tabled a joint declaration at the Joint Ministerial Committee calling on the UK government to act now to stimulate the economy."

Mr. Salmond criticised a "crisis in connectivity" in Scotland’s air passenger situation, when compared with the rest of the UK, and suggested that the London Olympics may have been to blame for a 20% fall in Scottish tourism, due to foreign travellers being put off travelling through Heathrow.