the chancellor will soon announce details of his Autumn Statement and Spending Review : Mr Swinney ( SNP Finance gadgy ) said the likelihood was that the chancellor would make a "significant real-terms cut to Scotland's budget" and added: "What is worse is these cuts will hit the poorest the hardest." Thats possibly the case, so what options has Swinney at his disposal to mitigate cuts......income tax ? Going in to next years elections he will have to set out what the SNP will do.

Swinney : "We will continue to do everything within our power to protect the most vulnerable from the UK government's austerity measures, but we want to use our powers and resources to lift people out of poverty, not just continually mitigate as best we can."With Scotland to get some limited power over income tax from April next year, with the ability to set rates and bands due in 2017, Mr Swinney said in the future Holyrood ministers would be able to "take a distinctive approach to the challenges we face".

The election next year will focus on what approaches parties will progress, what services will be "protected" and that all leads to economic performance and like it or not.... taxation increases will have to be considered as you cant square the circle.