ALEX Cole-Hamilton has said his party will vote down the upcoming Budget if it contains even a “penny” promoting Scottish independence.
The minority SNP administration needs MSPs from at least one opposition party to either back or abstain in the vote on its spending plans in order to get them passed.
The LibDem leader confirmed talks had taken place about the price of his party’s support – believed to include a £140 million ferry deal – but made it clear they would actively vote against any spending plans that promoted independence.
Finance Secretary Shona Robison (below) will deliver the Scottish Government's Budget at Holyrood on December 4.
Speaking to the BBC Scotland's Sunday Show, Cole-Hamilton said the public had sent the SNP a "clear message" in the recent General Election that they are "done with the constitution".
He said: "I don’t see a circumstance where any Liberal Democrat could vote for a Budget that is clearly spending money on the constitution.
"I think that would be a massive misuse of public funds no matter how small.
"We need every penny available spent on our schools, on our GP surgeries, on the mental health crisis."
Cole-Hamilton (below) added: "The SNP will have to go a long way to persuade us, that whilst they might delete things like any independence spending from their budget that they won’t just go back to their old ways of spending any political oxygen on the constitution.”
Asked by host Martin Geissler about whether LibDem MSPs might abstain, which would allow the Budget to pass despite containing money promoting independence, he said he would vote it down and "that is where we would be".
Meanwhile, the Scottish Greens have said they will only back the Budget if no cuts to independence spending are made.
We told how the Tories have demanded almost £1 billion in tax cuts from the Budget, although party leader Russell Findlay conceded that the plans were “unlikely” to be accepted.
The SNP have been contacted for comment.
