The Scottish budget nearly failed to get through parliament, until last minute wrangling achieved sufficient consensus. The block was apparently the Greens, who had wanted £100 million for a free home insurance scheme. They had already accepted some very un-Green measures, eg the M74 extension, and had decided that enough was enough.

In the end, Labour and LibDem were granted enough concessions for the budget to be passed. Interesting how although opposition parties can just be a nuisance and scupper any progress in a minority government, in practice it cuts both ways; instead of just moaning and criticizing, they actually need to justify their behaviour to the electorate if it is going to have such paralysing effects on the country as a whole.

Adrian Sie
Locum Consultant in Paediatrics
Royal Alexandra Hospital
Paisley
PA2 9PN