Labour and the Tories often promise change in Scotland in areas they don’t control (“devolved” powers). But in areas they do control (“retained powers”) they decide spending and priorities for Scotland, ignoring the wishes of our Scottish Government. Often the Scottish Government isn’t even consulted! Brexit is a great example of this.

In areas our Scottish Government controls, the UK Government controls the budget that can be spent by collecting most revenues from Scotland and deciding what to return – or by deciding to spend on public services in England which means Scotland also gets less to spend.

The visual Funding Scotland – How it Currently Works describes current arrangements in more detail.