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Scotland has vowed to scrap the two-child benefit cap, saying it will lift 15,000 Scottish children out of poverty.

Scotland’s finance secretary Shona Robison also committed to a record investment in the NHS as she unveiled the nation’s draft budget for the coming year in a speech at Holyrood.

The MSP previously said the budget would put “the people of Scotland first”.

Ms Robison told the chamber on Wednesday: “This budget invests in public services, lifts children out of poverty, acts in the face of the climate emergency, and supports jobs and economic growth.

“It is a budget filled with hope for Scotland’s future.”

Highlights from the draft budget:

• The Scottish government will mitigate the impact of the UK government’s two-child benefit cap. Ms Robison has urged Westminster to provide the necessary data to allow for the change to be made. She said: “Let me be crystal clear, this government is to end the two-child cap and in doing so will lift over 15,000 Scottish children out of poverty.”

• The nation’s NHS will receive a record £21bn for health and social care – an increase of £2bn for frontline NHS boards. The investment comes as spending watchdog Audit Scotland warned the NHS is unsustainable in its present state, with a fundamental change “urgently needed”.

• Almost £200m will be invested to reduce NHS waiting times. Ms Robison said by March 2026, no one will wait longer than 12 months for a new outpatient appointment, inpatient treatment or day-case treatment.

• The SNP has ditched its flagship council tax freeze. Local authority funding will be increased by more than £1bn, taking the total amount to more than £15bn. Ms Robison said while it is up to the local authorities to make their own decisions with the funding, there is “no reason for big increases in council tax next year”.

• More than £300m of ScotWind revenues will be invested in jobs and in measures to meet the climate challenge.

• £768m will be invested into affordable homes, enabling more than 8,000 new properties for social rent, mid-market rent and low-cost home ownership to be built or acquired this coming year.

• The Scottish government will also work with the City of Edinburgh Council to “unlock” more than 800 new net zero homes at the local authority’s Granton development site.

• New funding of £4m will be invested to tackle homelessness and for prevention pilots.

• An additional £800m will be invested into social security benefits.

• More than £2.5m will be delivered to support actions within the Disability Equality Action Plan.

• Spending on education and skills will increase by 3% over and above inflation, an uplift of £158m.

• £120m will be provided to headteachers to support initiatives designed to address the poverty-related attainment gap.

• Free school meals will also be expanded to primary 6 and 7 children from low-income families.

• A new initiative titled “bright start breakfasts” will be funded to help deliver more breakfast clubs in primary schools across the country.

• £29m will be invested into an additional support needs (ASN) plan, which will help maintain teacher numbers at 2023 levels and additionally train new ASN teachers.

• Almost £4.2bn will be invested across the justice system. The funding will seek to maintain police numbers. An additional £3m will be made available to help mitigate retail crime amid shoplifting concerns.

• £4.9bn will be invested to tackle the climate and nature crises.

• £25m will be allocated to support the creation of new jobs in the green energy supply chain in Scotland. And to help people at home and work, £300m will be invested in upgrading heating and insulation.

• £90m will be invested to protect, maintain and increase the nation’s woodlands and peatlands.

• £190m will be made available to boost bus services and to make it easier for people to walk, wheel or cycle. The electric vehicle charging network is also to be expanded.

• Almost £1.1bn will be used to maintain and renew the nation’s rail infrastructure.

• £237m will be invested to maintain and improve the nation’s ports, as well as deliver a “more resilient and effective ferry fleet”.

• In rural communities, more than £660m will be used to support farmers, crofters and the wider economy.

• The culture budget will increase by £34m.

• Income tax rates in Scotland have been frozen until 2026.

• The SNP had already confirmed it intends to restore a universal winter fuel payment for pensioners next year. Those in receipt of pension credit or other benefits will receive a £200 or £300 payment, depending on their age. All other pensioners will receive a reduced payment of £100.

First Minister of Scotland John Swinney, walks with Finance Secretary Shona Robison as she arrives to announce the draft Budget for 2025-26 to MSPs at the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh. Picture date: Wednesday December 4, 2024.
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First Minister John Swinney and Ms Robison at Holyrood on Wednesday. Pic: PA

The Scottish budget is largely funded through the block grant alongside taxes raised north of the border.

Holyrood has an additional £3.4bn to spend in 2025-26, thanks to cash announced by UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her budget in October – taking the overall settlement to £47.7bn.

However, the Scottish budget for 2023-24 amounted to around £59.7bn.

Holyrood ministers are legally obliged to balance the books and have limited borrowing powers with which to raise additional funds.

The draft budget will be scrutinised in the Scottish parliament over the coming weeks before an expected vote in February, where the SNP will need to garner support from outside its minority administration for it to pass.

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Finance Secretary Shona Robison during a visit to Logan Energy Limited in Edinburgh ahead of the publication of the Scottish Budget. Picture date: Wednesday December 4, 2024.
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Ms Robison during a visit to Logan Energy in Edinburgh earlier on Wednesday. Pic: PA

Following her statement, Ms Robison said she was looking forward to working with the opposition parties.

She added: “I am proud to present a budget that delivers on the priorities of the people of Scotland.

“Parliament can show that we understand the pressures people are facing.

“We can choose to come together to bring hope to people, to renew our public services, and deliver a wealth of new opportunities in our economy.”

In response, the Scottish Greens said it will not back the proposed budget “as things stand”.

Ross Greer, the party’s finance spokesperson, cited its failure to expand free school meals for all P6 and P7 pupils.

The MSP said: “The government has agreed to more modest Green proposals like free ferry travel for young islanders, free bus travel for asylum seekers and higher tax on the purchase of holiday homes, but these measures are not nearly enough to make up for the cuts elsewhere.

“Big changes will be needed if they expect the Scottish Greens’ support.”

IPPR Scotland welcomed the intention to scrap the two-child benefit cap, as did Oxfam Scotland.

However, the charity criticised the Scottish government’s failure to implement a tax on “pollution spewing private jets” and is calling on ministers to “turbocharge talks with the UK government in order to give the tax clearance for take-off as soon as possible”.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Conservatives branded it “more of the same from the SNP”.

Craig Hoy, the party’s shadow cabinet secretary for finance, said: “Taxpayers are paying the price for years of SNP waste on ferries, gender reforms, failed independence bids, and a National Care Service that has already cost £30m.”

The MSP said the NHS is on its knees and needed “urgent reform”.

He added: “The extra funding is welcome but our NHS needs more than money, it needs leadership and a serious plan to reduce waiting lists, yet the SNP’s only proposal is rehashing a previous broken promise.

“The Nationalists have no vision for the future of the country and it’s clear John Swinney is out of ideas.”

The Scottish Tories also said the two-child benefit cap is “necessary”.

MSP Liz Smith, the party’s shadow social security secretary, said: “Social security payments must be fair to people who are struggling and to taxpayers who pick up the bill.

“We believe the two-child cap is necessary and the right approach at this time.

“The rapidly rising benefits bill is currently unsustainable as a direct consequence of the SNP’s high tax rates and mismanagement of our economy and public finances.”

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Bank chiefs to Reeves: Ditch ring-fencing to boost UK economy

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Bank chiefs to Reeves: Ditch ring-fencing to boost UK economy

The bosses of four of Britain’s biggest banks are secretly urging the chancellor to ditch the most significant regulatory change imposed after the 2008 financial crisis, warning her its continued imposition is inhibiting UK economic growth.

Sky News has obtained an explosive letter sent this week by the chief executives of HSBC Holdings, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group and Santander UK in which they argue that bank ring-fencing “is not only a drag on banks’ ability to support business and the economy, but is now redundant”.

The CEOs’ letter represents an unprecedented intervention by most of the UK’s major lenders to abolish a reform which cost them billions of pounds to implement and which was designed to make the banking system safer by separating groups’ high street retail operations from their riskier wholesale and investment banking activities.

Their request to Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, to abandon ring-fencing 15 years after it was conceived will be seen as a direct challenge to the government to take drastic action to support the economy during a period when it is forcing economic regulators to scrap red tape.

It will, however, ignite controversy among those who believe that ditching the UK’s most radical post-crisis reform risks exacerbating the consequences of any future banking industry meltdown.

In their letter to the chancellor, the quartet of bank chiefs told Ms Reeves that: “With global economic headwinds, it is crucial that, in support of its Industrial Strategy, the government’s Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy removes unnecessary constraints on the ability of UK banks to support businesses across the economy and sends the clearest possible signal to investors in the UK of your commitment to reform.

“While we welcomed the recent technical adjustments to the ring-fencing regime, we believe it is now imperative to go further.

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“Removing the ring-fencing regime is, we believe, among the most significant steps the government could take to ensure the prudential framework maximises the banking sector’s ability to support UK businesses and promote economic growth.”

Work on the letter is said to have been led by HSBC, whose new chief executive, Georges Elhedery, is among the signatories.

His counterparts at Lloyds, Charlie Nunn; NatWest’s Paul Thwaite; and Mike Regnier, who runs Santander UK, also signed it.

While Mr Thwaite in particular has been public in questioning the continued need for ring-fencing, the letter – sent on Tuesday – is the first time that such a collective argument has been put so forcefully.

The only notable absentee from the signatories is CS Venkatakrishnan, the Barclays chief executive, although he has publicly said in the past that ring-fencing is not a major financial headache for his bank.

Other industry executives have expressed scepticism about that stance given that ring-fencing’s origination was largely viewed as being an attempt to solve the conundrum posed by Barclays’ vast investment banking operations.

The introduction of ring-fencing forced UK-based lenders with a deposit base of at least £25bn to segregate their retail and investment banking arms, supposedly making them easier to manage in the event that one part of the business faced insolvency.

Banks spent billions of pounds designing and setting up their ring-fenced entities, with separate boards of directors appointed to each division.

More recently, the Treasury has moved to increase the deposit threshold from £25bn to £35bn, amid pressure from a number of faster-growing banks.

Sam Woods, the current chief executive of the main banking regulator, the Prudential Regulation Authority, was involved in formulating proposals published by the Sir John Vickers-led Independent Commission on Banking in 2011.

Legislation to establish ring-fencing was passed in the Financial Services Reform (Banking) Act 2013, and the regime came into effect in 2019.

In addition to ring-fencing, banks were forced to substantially increase the amount and quality of capital they held as a risk buffer, while they were also instructed to create so-called ‘living wills’ in the event that they ran into financial trouble.

The chancellor has repeatedly spoken of the need to regulate for growth rather than risk – a phrase the four banks hope will now persuade her to abandon ring-fencing.

Britain is the only major economy to have adopted such an approach to regulating its banking industry – a fact which the four bank chiefs say is now undermining UK competitiveness.

“Ring-fencing imposes significant and often overlooked costs on businesses, including SMEs, by exposing them to banking constraints not experienced by their international competitors, making it harder for them to scale and compete,” the letter said.

“Lending decisions and pricing are distorted as the considerable liquidity trapped inside the ring-fence can only be used for limited purposes.

“Corporate customers whose financial needs become more complex as they grow larger, more sophisticated, or engage in international trade, are adversely affected given the limits on services ring-fenced banks can provide.

“Removing ring-fencing would eliminate these cliff-edge effects and allow firms to obtain the full suite of products and services from a single bank, reducing administrative costs”.

In recent months, doubts have resurfaced about the commitment of Spanish banking giant Santander to its UK operations amid complaints about the costs of regulation and supervision.

The UK’s fifth-largest high street lender held tentative conversations about a sale to either Barclays or NatWest, although they did not progress to a formal stage.

HSBC, meanwhile, is particularly restless about the impact of ring-fencing on its business, given its sprawling international footprint.

“There has been a material decline in UK wholesale banking since ring-fencing was introduced, to the detriment of British businesses and the perception of the UK as an internationally orientated economy with a global financial centre,” the letter said.

“The regime causes capital inefficiencies and traps liquidity, preventing it from being deployed efficiently across Group entities.”

The four bosses called on Ms Reeves to use this summer’s Mansion House dinner – the City’s annual set-piece event – to deliver “a clear statement of intent…to abolish ring-fencing during this Parliament”.

Doing so, they argued, would “demonstrate the government’s determination to do what it takes to promote growth and send the strongest possible signal to investors of your commitment to the City and to strengthen the UK’s position as a leading international financial centre”.

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Post Office to unveil £1.75bn banking deal with big British lenders

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Post Office to unveil £1.75bn banking deal with big British lenders

The Post Office will next week unveil a £1.75bn deal with dozens of banks which will allow their customers to continue using Britain’s biggest retail network.

Sky News has learnt the next Post Office banking framework will be launched next Wednesday, with an agreement that will deliver an additional £500m to the government-owned company.

Banking industry sources said on Friday the deal would be worth roughly £350m annually to the Post Office – an uplift from the existing £250m-a-year deal, which expires at the end of the year.

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The sources added that in return for the additional payments, the Post Office would make a range of commitments to improving the service it provides to banks’ customers who use its branches.

Banks which participate in the arrangements include Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group and Santander UK.

Under the Banking Framework Agreement, the 30 banks and mutuals’ customers can access the Post Office’s 11,500 branches for a range of services, including depositing and withdrawing cash.

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The service is particularly valuable to those who still rely on physical cash after a decade in which well over 6,000 bank branches have been closed across Britain.

In 2023, more than £10bn worth of cash was withdrawn over the counter and £29bn in cash was deposited over the counter, the Post Office said last year.

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A new, longer-term deal with the banks comes at a critical time for the Post Office, which is trying to secure government funding to bolster the pay of thousands of sub-postmasters.

Reliant on an annual government subsidy, the reputation of the network’s previous management team was left in tatters by the Horizon IT scandal and the wrongful conviction of hundreds of sub-postmasters.

A Post Office spokesperson declined to comment ahead of next week’s announcement.

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Trump trade war: How UK figures show his tariff argument doesn’t add up

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Trump trade war: How UK figures show his tariff argument doesn't add up

As Chancellor Rachel Reeves meets her counterpart, US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent to discuss an “economic agreement” between the two countries, the latest trade figures confirm three realities that ought to shape negotiations.

The first is that the US remains a vital customer for UK businesses, the largest single-nation export market for British goods and the third-largest import partner, critical to the UK automotive industry, already landed with a 25% tariff, and pharmaceuticals, which might yet be.

In 2024 the US was the UK’s largest export market for cars, worth £9bn to companies including Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley and Aston Martin, and accounting for more than 27% of UK automotive exports.

Little wonder the domestic industry fears a heavy and immediate impact on sales and jobs should tariffs remain.

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American car exports to the UK by contrast are worth just £1bn, which may explain why the chancellor may be willing to lower the current tariff of 10% to 2.5%.

For UK medicines and pharmaceutical producers meanwhile, the US was a more than £6bn market in 2024. Currently exempt from tariffs, while Mr Trump and his advisors think about how to treat an industry he has long-criticised for high prices, it remains vulnerable.

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The second point is that the US is even more important for the services industry. British exports of consultancy, PR, financial and other professional services to America were worth £131bn last year.

That’s more than double the total value of the goods traded in the same direction, but mercifully services are much harder to hammer with the blunt tool of tariffs, though not immune from regulation and other “non-tariff barriers”.

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The third point is that, had Donald Trump stuck to his initial rationale for tariffs, UK exporters should not be facing a penny of extra cost for doing business with the US.

The president says he slapped blanket tariffs on every nation bar Russia to “rebalance” the US economy and reverse goods trade ‘deficits’ – in which the US imports more than it exports to a given country.

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That heavily contested argument might apply to Mexico, Canada, China and many other manufacturing nations, but it does not meaningfully apply to Britain.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the US ran a small goods trade deficit with the UK in 2024 of £2.2bn, importing £59.3bn of goods against exports of £57.1bn.

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Add in services trade, in which the UK exports more than double what it imports from the US, and the UK’s surplus – and thus the US ‘deficit’ – swells to nearly £78bn.

That might be a problem were it not for the US’ own accounts of the goods and services trade with Britain, which it says actually show a $15bn (£11.8bn) surplus with the UK.

You might think that they cannot both be right, but the ONS disagrees. The disparity is caused by the way the US Bureau of Economic Analysis accounts for services, as well as a range of statistical assumptions.

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“The presence of trade asymmetries does not indicate that either country is inaccurate in their estimation,” the ONS said.

That might be encouraging had Mr Trump not ignored his own arguments and landed the UK, like everyone else in the world, with a blanket 10% tariff on all goods.

Trade agreements are notoriously complex, protracted affairs, which helps explain why after nine years of trying the UK still has not got one with the US, and the Brexit deal it did with the EU against a self-imposed deadline has been proved highly disadvantageous.

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