Government costs soar £57m

Running the Scottish Parliament has pushed up costs

The Scottish Executive is playing down claims that the cost of governing Scotland has soared by £57m since devolution.

It has confirmed the figures are correct but insist the comparison is misleading.

Executive figures showed the bill for running government north of the border will be £206m this year, up from £149m in 1997-98.

Much of the additional cost is down to an increase in civil servants, the cost of running the Scottish Parliament - which began in July 1999 - and the bill for publishing official documents.

SNP leader John Swinney said Labour ministers had "got their priorities all wrong".

SNP leader John Swinney: Priorities all wrong

The nationalist leader said: "They are spending many millions on glossy brochures and spin doctors when they should be investing firmly in public services.

"That the cost of bureaucracy should be rising so sharply reflects the situation in Westminster where government spending on itself has gone through the roof."

Tory leader David McLetchie said the cost of devolution was soaring at a time when Labour was spending less on public services than the last Conservative Government.

He added: "At the same time Labour has been surrounding itself with spin doctors and media manipulators, who are paid lavish salaries at the taxpayers' expense and pouring more and more public money into the cost of government.

David McLetchie: Tories would "cut the fat out of Labour's bloated administration"

"On top of this we have 22 Scottish ministers compared to five in 1997 and plans for a new Scottish Parliament building, the cost of which is spiralling out of control."

Mr McLetchie said the Tories would "cut the fat out of Labour's bloated administration and deliver leaner, fitter Government".

Tam Dalyell, the Labour MP for Linlithgow and a long-time opponent of devolution, said the figures showed why he opposed devolution "on financial and many other grounds".

He said: "This £50 million has to come from somewhere and local authorities have to pay for a whole host of urgent matters which would never have happened before."

A spokesman for the Scottish Executive confirmed that the figures were correct but insisted that they were also misleading.

He said: "Comparing 1997 figures with 2001 is like comparing apples with pears. They are two different systems of accounting."