Cuts are coming to Scotland’s schools, police and fire services to plug a multibillion-pound budget gap while spending on benefits surges.
Plans unveiled by Kate Forbes, the finance secretary, suggest a reduction in the number of public sector workers to make pay increases affordable while new forecasts predicted severe belt tightening for households as well as the Scottish government.
The Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC), the nation’s official economic forecasting body, said education, justice and local government budgets would all fall in real terms in each of the next three years with spending on schools the only one to increase in 2026-27.
