Spending decisions made by the SNP government prove it doesn’t view policing as a priority, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said today.
It follows an intervention from justice secretary Michael Matheson earlier this week, where he appeared to blame the UK Government for a reduction in Police Scotland’s budget as he answered questions on a report ordered on the back of the M9 tragedy.
However, figures have revealed that while the Scottish Government’s total budget went up by £661 million in cash terms between 2014/15 and 2015/16, the amount it passed on to policing fell by £6 million.
At First Minister’s Questions today, Ruth said this shows the Scottish Government made a choice to reduce the single force’s funding, despite having more cash to work with from Westminster.
A report into the fatal M9 tragedy – where John Yuill and Lamara Bell lay by the side of the road for three days unattended despite police being alerted – made a series of damning discoveries.
It warned Police Scotland to stop the planned mergers of its call handling centres, and said some officers were resorting to “scribble pads” instead of logging information on the central system.
Staffing levels at Bilston Glen, were the initial M9 call was taken, were also found to be too low.
But today, Nicola Sturgeon defended the creation of Police Scotland, and dismissed the fact the SNP had cut its funding.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said:
“The Scottish Government sets its own spending priorities and clearly policing is not one of those.
“Despite the justice secretary’s best efforts this week, you cannot blame that on Westminster.
“The First Minister’s overall budget went up by £661 million from last year to this, but over the same time period she cut funding for policing by £6 million.
“That is a political choice made by the SNP in Edinburgh.
“Nicola Sturgeon has to accept responsibility for that.
“She has sole responsibility for health, education, policing and much else in our society, and even more powers are on their way in the form of tax and welfare.
“This is a government which is always quick to claim credit for every bit of good news – but passes the buck when something goes wrong.”
Click here to listen to the full exchange.