HOLYROOD has its one-man version of Donald Trump’s DOGE — already saving Scots £280million a year, claims John Swinney.
The Nats chief pointed to Public Finance Minister Ivan McKee’s cuts blitz — while taking a swipe at Labour and the Tories after they called for bespoke schemes.
John Swinney spoke at the Association for Scottish Public Affairs Conference on Wednesday[/caption]
He praised Ivan McKee, who is also responsible for planning[/caption]
Mr Swinney said at the Association for Scottish Public Affairs Conference on Wednesday: “I’ve enabled Ivan to influence policy in a way to frankly speed up decision making, to make it more efficient, to get more efficiency out of public expenditure.
“I’m really quite amused, touched, by the various versions of McDOGE that my political rivals are suggesting that we need in Scotland today.
“As part of the routine business of government in Scotland, we’re trying to maximise that efficiency out of public expenditure.”
Mr Swinney also said that Mr McKee, who is also responsible for planning, “brings to all of his activities an acute focus on private sector thinking and processes with his successful private sector career before he entered parliament”.
Answering a question about the need for the Scottish Government to speed up planning process in Scotland – a focus in England for of Keir Starmer’s government is south of the border – Mr Swinney said: “I can assure you of the intense focus within government to make sure we see planning decision making helping to support our agenda on economic growth and economic development, and to make sure the resources are in place to do that.”
And at First Minister’s Questions yesterday, Mr Swinney also praised Mr McKee after Scottish Tory boss Russell Findlay said the SNP leader had “no respect for public finances” and the Nats had “created far too many talking shops that achieve nothing”.
Mr Swinney said: “The programmes that have been taken forward by my Minister for Public Finance, Ivan McKee, are securing savings expected to reach up to £280 million over a two year period by the end of 2024-25, with further projected savings of nearly £300 million over the following two financial years to the end of 2026-27.”
We told last week how Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar pledged a DOGE-style department if he wins power – including axing the controversial £1billion contract to replace Glasgow’s Barlinnie prison, which was originally meant to cost a tenth of the price.
And Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay announced his own plans for a Scottish version of DOGE, saying: “The SNP state has expanded rapidly and declined in delivery. Taxpayers pay for more but get less.
President Trump’s pal Musk – the Tesla, SpaceX and X/Twitter magnate – spearhead’s DOGE, which aims to slash billions of dollars in spending.
But the department has proven controversial.
At a Trump cabinet meeting, Musk admitted his department had already made mistakes, saying: “One of the things we accidentally cancelled very briefly was Ebola prevention.”
The Scottish Sun revealed in September how Nats ministers were targeting £1billion in cuts from what insiders said was a “bloated” public sector including arms-length quangos – with Mr McKee heading the project.
Total spending among the public bodies outside direct ministerial control has hit £4.4billion a year.
And £1.3billion is spent across the public sector on the likes of HR, finance and buildings – with many quangos accused of replicating each other’s work.
Nats ministers were targeting £1billion in cuts from what insiders said was a “bloated” public sector[/caption]
