BREAKING NEWS: Budget voted down!

There has been shock and turmoil today after the Scottish Governments budget was voted down in parliament. The votes eventually came down to this - the SNP, Tories and Margo MacDonald voting for the budget and Labour, Lib Dems and Greens voting against! This created a tie vote of 64 - 64 meaning the Presiding Officer had to cast a vote and, with convention, voted for the status quo! First of all, lets be clear, no one seriously expected Labour to vote for the budget, nor the Lib Dems, but the way that the opposition have acted is, frankly, childish! They have been playing party politics and in a time of economic crisis and recession this is not the time to be creating unnecessary problems which could escalate into an even bigger crisis and put even more people's jobs on the line!

My guess now is that over the course of the next couple of weeks there will be discussions to win the support of the Greens and, depending on how quickly the Greens decide to support it, a second budget will be presented and will be passed.

The people of Scotland will not take kindly to the way the opposition have acted and will remember this the next time they go to the ballot! I think it's time all the parties got their act together and worked in the Scottish national interest and vote in favour of this budget!