The Scottish authorities has confronted criticism from political opponents and economists for not budgeting for greater public pay offers on this yr’s finances, which Mr Swinney mentioned would value greater than forecast.
Requested if ministers made a mistake, he replied: “Not essentially as a result of you have to reside inside your means.”
The primary minister informed BBC Scotland Information: “You may solely set out in your finances what you’ll be able to afford.”
Ultimately yr’s SNP convention, then SNP chief Humza Yousaf introduced a council tax freeze.
The Scottish Fiscal Fee – an impartial watchdog – mentioned the freeze, extra beneficiant public sector pay offers than in different components of the UK and social safety reforms had all “added to the in-year pressures” going through the federal government.
However Mr Swinney defended his predecessor’s resolution, describing it as a “sensible” measure to assist households throughout the price of residing disaster.
The federal government couldn’t impose a nationwide freeze on council tax, which is overseen by native authorities.
As a substitute, it supplied monetary incentives for councils to conform, with all agreeing to doing so by April. At that time, the federal government mentioned, exterior it had allotted £147m to native authorities, with an additional £62.7m pledged.
