The leak of the confidential documents, and even draft legislation, led to a delay of more than an hour and raised heated criticism from MSPs.

‘Inflation is corroding our economy having reached a 40-year high, and as if this was not enough the British government has added to this with Brexit leading to labour shortages and the catastrophic decisions in the mini Budget in September,’ said acting finance minister John Swinney. ‘In short these are spectacularly difficult times to handle the economy.’

‘There are real pressures on the value of our Budget so we had to make cuts to our spending plan in the autumn,’ he said. ‘Despite reductions in spending of £1.2bn, I am still working to balance this Budget.’ There will be no carryover this year, compared to £400m carried forward in 2021/22.

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