Commenting ahead of a statement in the Scottish Parliament about the Pre-Budget Report, Tavish Scott, leader of the Liberal Democrats in Scotland said:

”Twenty-four hours later, people can see that the Chancellor has prescribed a lemsip to our economy, when it’s suffering from full blown pneumonia.

“Few people believe that the VAT reduction is going to boost their consumer spending. People need to see more money in their pockets right now for that to happen.

"Instead, when they see the small print of the Budget they find that Labour is going to clobber the motorist. The car is often the only option in many rural and remote parts of Scotland and rising fuel duty will hurt them the most.

“It’s increasingly clear that yesterday’s Labour Budget isn’t going to turn the economy around. We needed to see primary colours but we just got fifty shades of grey.”