John Swinney says the Scottish government cannot afford to reverse all of the public spending cuts implemented by the Conservative government in Westminster. The deputy first minister was asked if Holyrood would undo the cuts, which have been proposed by the UK government as part of its austerity measures.
Mr Swinney said it was "highly unlikely" that Holyrood could find the £6bn needed, by his calculations, to pay for the tax and benefit changes.

A couple of days ago the government were still pledging to "top up" benefits affected by Westminster cuts...a noble claim...but its all just words.....maybe they should the word "aspire" more : ie we aspire to get shot of trident...we aspire to top up benefits....aspirations are just that, aspirations which they cant be tied to if they dont deliver. Seems that there's a lot of aspirations going on then. Anyway at least the guy is dealing with the reality, he isnt going to move tax rates to fund topping up benefit cuts, so does that mean that the SNP have now dropped the anti austerity "aspirations" and are moving towards the Tory strategy of getting people into work and minimsing benefits... as it all costs and we cant fund it as things stand ??? I feel they are drip feeding their poliicy reversals bit by bit..................