JOHN Swinney has said that the Scottish Government has "no choice" but to make hundreds of millions of pounds worth of cuts this year.
The First Minister told STV News this was due to the surging costs of public sector pay deals.
He added that Scottish ministers were “wrestling with very significantly higher pay demands than we anticipated”.
It comes after SNP Cabinet Secretary Robison said that “significant” spending cuts would be needed because of the Labour government’s decision to stick to the Tories’ fiscal rules – something which Chancellor Rachel Reeves made a key pillar of her General Election pitch.
Robison said: “Before Labour entered office, we and many others repeatedly warned that they were concealing the significant cuts they would have to make as a result of sticking to the Tory fiscal rules – and now, they are no longer able to hide from the reality.
“The political choices being made by the new UK Government will fundamentally damage our ability to deliver public services in Scotland. The SNP government will do everything we can to protect the services and public from the Westminster attack on Scotland’s public spending."
Meanwhile, the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) also previously said that Scottish Government policy, including more generous public sector pay deals and the council tax freeze had put pressure on the country's finances.
Swinney told STV News Political Editor Colin Mackay on Thursday that up to at least £250 million in cuts will have to be made.
The First Minister said: “The challenge we’ve got during this financial year is that we are wrestling with very significantly higher pay demands than we anticipated.
“We’ve got to find that money from within our existing resources and as we work our way through the year we are trying to get to a position of greater financial certainty.
“And this is a crucial point, the Scottish Government has to balance its budget, we’ve done that every year since 2007 – we have no choice.
“We’ve got to do it this year and we have to make a set of decisions to make that the case”.
He added that an exact figure is not yet known but when asked if hundreds of millions would have to be cut from other budgets to fund these pay deals, he confirmed: “That’s correct, yes.”
