Ministers agree budget compromise

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Ministers have made several last-minute concessions to the Scottish budget, following opposition demands.

A total of 1,000 new police officers will now be recruited by March 2011, an increase of 500, and extra cash will be made available to fight climate change.

Rival parties welcomed the move, but the Tories, Greens and Lib Dems have yet to decide whether to back the spending plans.

MSPs will make the final, crunch vote on the budget at Holyrood on Wednesday.

The government said the £10m extra police cash would put 300 more officers on the streets in 2008-09, and gave a commitment to increase that by a further 200 over the next two years.

The ball remains in the government's court Derek BrownleeTory finance spokesman

That will eventually mean an extra 1,500 police officers on the streets through recruitment, retention and redeployment.

Finance Secretary John Swinney said the minority government was committed to a budget which would benefit all of Scotland.

"Throughout the budget process I have been clear that I would listen and work closely with parliament to produce a budget that will deliver our vision of a more successful Scotland," he said.

"To do that, we have had to make some tough choices and build consensus."

Pensions 'shortfall'

Conservative finance spokesman Derek Brownlee welcomed the concession, following cross-party pressure, but said questions remained unanswered on drugs funding and a demand by parliament to enhance business rate cuts.

"Our decision on the budget will be taken once we know the government's position on drugs policy and business rates, and not before," he said.

"The ball remains in the government's court."

Labour justice spokeswoman Pauline McNeill said the plans would be meaningless unless ministers tackled what she claimed was an "emerging £100m shortfall" in police pensions funding.

MSPs will make the crunch budget vote on Wednesday

Police forces will not be able to balance their budgets properly and this would make it impossible to meet the 1,000 police target, she said.

The amendments, which include an extra £4.3m for the Climate Challenge Fund, are to be paid for in the main by taking £5m from the health portfolio, £3m from transport - a move which will delay some road maintenance work - and £2m from the prisons budget.

The Greens - whose two votes may prove vital in the final budget vote - said the commitment did not go far enough.

Green MSP Patrick Harvie said: "This is still not a green budget. While it certainly has seen improvements, it still fails public transport users, and we can't accept that."

The Scottish Liberal Democrats said there were still big questions to be answered, arguing that Mr Swinney had yet to explain exactly how his "ambitious" efficiency savings programme, on which the budget hinged, would work.