EXCLUSIVE: IAN MURRAY HAS ACCUSED JOHN SWINNEY AND NIGEL FARAGE OF BOTH WANTING TO SCRAP THE BARNETT FORMULA THAT GUARANTEES HIGHER PUBLIC SPENDING IN SCOTLAND. 10:30, 03 Jun 2025Updated

19:12, 03 Jun 2025 The SNP and Reform UK "have more in common than they would care to admit", a senior Labour minister has said. Ian Murray today accused John Swinney and Nigel

Farage of both wanting to scrap the Barnett Formula that guarantees higher public spending in Scotland. The Scottish Secretary spoke out after Nigel Farage claimed yesterday the funding

model for Holyrood was "out of date" and "should be looked at again". Murray, MP for Edinburgh South, warned scrapping the system could lead to "Liz Truss on

generous, as it delivers higher spending per head of population in Scotland than elsewhere in the UK. Article continues below But SNP ministers have signalled in recent months their

preferred option of financing devolution - short of achieving independence - is full fiscal autonomy. This would leave Scotland responsible for all its taxation, spending and borrowing, with

payments made to the UK Government for certain collective services such as defence. READ MORE: Keir Starmer says he will not support a second independence referendum as Prime MinisterREAD

MORE: Nigel Farage 'bottles' press event in Hamilton as left wing protestors blast Reform UK leader But critics have warned such a system would raise £12.8 billion less than the

Scottish Government currently spends on public services. Murray told the Record it was now clear both Reform and the SNP wanted to scrap the Barnett Formula. "Nigel Farage and John

Swinney have more in common than they would care to admit - they both want to impose massive cuts to public spending in Scotland with a £12.8 billion Barnett bombshell," he said.

"Labour’s austerity ending budget delivered £50 billion for public services in Scotland. The Barnett Formula guarantees higher public spending per head for Scotland. "Both the SNP

and Nigel Farage want to end the Barnett Formula. The cost of that would be £12.8 billion to Scotland’s public services like our NHS. "That’s the economic mayhem of Liz Truss on

steroids. No surprise given Farage was head of the Margaret Thatcher Fan Club. "It’s fantasy economics and Scots will want no part of it." It comes after the Record pressed the

Reform UK leader on whether he felt public spending in Scotland was too high. Farage said: said: "The Barnett Formula seems to me to be somewhat out of date. What I'd like to see

is a Scottish Government that's able to raise a bit more of its own revenue, and a Scottish economy that has genuine growth. "And I don't believe that can happen without this

sector (North Sea oil and gas) booming. "The Barnett Formula goes back to the 1970s. Is there an argument that it should be looked at again? Of course there is. "But I mean,

frankly, frankly, if you look at welfare dependency, if you look at educational standards, the idea, the 50 billion this year, roughly what the figure is going to be, going to Scotland. It

isn’t going to reduce in the short term until Scotland actually starts to have an economy that is thriving and right now it’s going in completely the wrong direction." SNP MSP Rona

Mackay said: "Ian Murray is the cheerleader for a UK Government that has scrapped the winter fuel payment, cut support to disabled people and is balancing the books on the backs of the

most vulnerable. Article continues below "Taking decisions in Scotland would mean that we are no longer subject to the whims of pro-austerity Labour Chancellors like Rachel Reeves and a

Labour UK Government that has let Scotland down at every turn." TO SIGN UP TO THE DAILY RECORD POLITICS NEWSLETTER, CLICK HERE