Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Nicola Sturgeon confirms fiscal framework agreement has been reached

Post Thumbnail

Historic powers will come to Holyrood after a financial devolution deal was finally agreed but the stage is set for another fractious showdown in five years.

Nicola Sturgeon confirmed theagreement of the fiscal framework to MSPs during an emergency statement at Holyrood following months ofpainstaking, behind-closed-doors talks between the two governments.

Billions of pounds of public cash have been at stake during the hard-fought negotiations, which centred on how Scotland’s block grant is altered as the country takes control of income tax.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=y2ZMBvJ3g9M%3Frel%3D0%26controls%3D0%26showinfo%3D0

The First Minister stressed Scotland’s budget would not be “single penny” worse off under the deal, which runs for an initial transition period until 2022.

“We have secured no detriment now, and for the next six years, and we have ensured that there can be no detriment imposed on Scotland at any point in the future,” she added.

Future governments on both sides of the border will need to get back around the table in 2021 to review the deal, which could lead to a re-run of thetensions of the past few months.For further coverage see Wednesday’s CourierThe two administrations haddisagreed on the formula used to reduce Scotland’s grant as Holyrood takesfurther control of income tax.

SNP ministers were against theTreasury’s “levels” deduction which they say would have punished Scotland’s predicted slower population growth.

But they have come to a resolution that both governments say is faithful to “no detriment” the principle neither side is worse off from devolution.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said the agreement is “fair to Scotland and fair to taxpayers in the rest of the UK”.

He 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.”

The new powers, which also includes the ability to create new welfarepayments, are contained in the Scotland Bill, which is based on the SmithCommission’s findings.

Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Willie Rennie said the First Minister had “caved in” to the Treasury.

He added: “This puts Scotland in a weaker position for the review in five years’ time.”

Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, said the powers provide “huge” opportunities to counter spendingcuts.