“An extra £120m? Over and above the block grant and Barnett and additional Covid cash? When oh when will Westminster’s cruel oppression end?”

It’s always nice to report good news from Holyrood, so you’ll be delighted to learn the Finance Secretary’s had something of a windfall.

Kate Forbes prefaced her budget statement with a report on her suddenly improved fortunes. Where had the money come from? Back of the sofa? Swiss bank account? The St Andrew’s House lottery syndicate?

Well, no. You see, it was from the Treasury. The UK one. In Westminster.

She told MSPs: ‘The UK Government has advised… that we should anticipate further funding for this year.’

What luck! How much were we talking?

She continued: ‘In light of new information from the UK Government, I now have some new and additional flexibility on this year’s funding. So I am pleased to confirm my intention to utilise the Scotland reserve to carry forward sufficient funding from this year to next year to allocate a further £120m of resource to local government.’

An extra £120m? Over and above the block grant and Barnett and additional Covid cash? When oh when will Westminster’s cruel oppression end?

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