SHONA Robison has said that the Scottish Government’s papers on an independent Scotland are “in the final stages”.
The Finance Secretary set out the Budget in Holyrood on Wednesday afternoon, with her main focus on tackling child poverty and investing in the NHS.
However, independence was not mentioned in her speech, and we told how both the Scottish Greens and Alba Party expressed concerns over this.
The Scottish Government’s white paper series was intended to form the prospectus for an independent Scotland, addressing a range of issues from the economy to migration.
Speaking to journalists after her statement, Robison said: “As I understand it they’re nearly concluding, they’re almost at the end of the process.
“It is in the final stages and I think that’s about the culmination of the papers that have already been set out.”
Robison further added that the SNP Government was elected on a mandate for independence and therefore ministers will “continue to talk about independence and the best constitutional arrangement being independence”.
No independence papers have been published since John Swinney succeeded Humza Yousaf as Scotland’s First Minister.
We told last month how Yousaf had planned to publish two further white papers before he was forced to resign after ending the Bute House Agreement.
The last of the papers focused on justice in an independent Scotland with Swinney having also scrapped the role of minister for independence – with Jamie Hepburn (below) taking on the parliamentary business ministerial brief.
Following Wednesday’s Budget, the Scottish Greens said the party would not be supporting the Budget in its current form and that “big changes” would be needed to secure his party’s support.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats meanwhile had previously said any spending on Scottish independence would mean they would not support the Budget.
Alba’s Holyrood leader Ash Regan said Robison’s statement was a step in the right direction in securing her support.
