Highland Council leader backs Scottish Government calls for greater fiscal flexibility by UK government to enable Scotland to deal with fallout from coronavirus pandemic
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CALLS for greater fiscal flexibility to help the Scottish Government tackle the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic have won "strong support" from Highland Council's leader.
The Scottish Government has been calling on the UK government in Westminster to give them temporary additional powers to help Scotland weather the storm - including the ability to offset any underspend in capital programmes, and increased borrowing at a time when interest rates are very low.
Now, Highland Council leader Margaret Davidson has backed their calls for greater fiscal flexibility, arguing that that Scottish Government's finance secretary Kate Forbes has made a "well-reasoned" case.
She said: “The Cabinet Secretary for Finance is presenting a well-reasoned case to help us all recover from this pandemic.
"These requests to the UK government for financial flexibility are timely and sensible. This is not about politics or constitutional debate, it’s about helping to save jobs, protect our public services and recover from this pandemic and I hope she receives a swift response.
"In Highland we are seeking flexibility from the Treasury to ease the impact of loan repayments on our budget and will be writing to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury this week.”
