The annual Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) report, compiled by Scottish government statisticians, measured the period from April 2020 to the end of March 2021 and shows that Scotland’s deficit has reached a record high of 22.4% of GDP in 2020/21.

Increased spending and falling revenues as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the continuing oil price slump, increased Scotland’s notional deficit for 2020-21 from 8.6% of GDP in 2019-20. 

The equivalent deficit figure for the UK was 14.2%, which is the highest figure recorded during peacetime. The IFS stated that Scotland’s deficit has increased more than that of the UK as a whole, rising by 13.5% from 11.6%.

The total spending in Scotland rose to a record £99.2bn from £81bn in 2019-20, reflecting the cost of health and economic interventions such as furlough in response to the pandemic, while income from taxes fell to £62.8bn.