John Swinney spent a long time serving as the Scottish government’s finance secretary. He’s comfortable talking about all things fiscal, and that was evident in this morning’s speech.
It was dense at points, but that’s because the first minister has concrete ideas about what the UK government should do in their budget.
He believes borrowing more to invest in public services will pay for itself. He argues that it leads to economic boosts – it will improve productivity, people will be healthier, and the UK can – simply put – work better.
It’s worth pointing out others believe there can be downsides to such borrowing, such as increased interest rates.
Swinney thinks the UK government will have to raise more money, and that tax rises for higher earners could be a logical place to start.
Though he expressed concern about an expected rise for National Insurance contributions for employers – pointing out that the public sector is a big employer in Scotland. If costs go up here, that could have a knock on effect for services.
The first minister’s team are keen to stress that he’s making this speech in the spirit of collaboration.
But with a Labour government stressing how difficult the economic situation currently is, it doesn’t feel like they’re tempted to turn on the spending taps.