The analysis shows that during the first two terms
of Scottish Parliament, characterised by coalition governments,
the approval of the budget was not a problematic
issue. The budget generally grew in real terms, and the parliamentary
scrutiny was aimed more at asking for more
transparency and information rather than at amending the
budget. This is clear evidence of the exercise of power
by the coalition government. At both obligatory passage
points for the budget – the Finance Committee and the
presentation of the Budget Bill to Parliament itself – there
was only one proposed budget amendment, and this was
in Finance Committee. This proposal from aminority party
got no support. At the main budget bill debate, there was
no significant discussion. There were wide ranging observations
made on a variety of matters, but none which
challenged the budget. Moreover, the actual number of
people involved in the budget debates tended to be small,
revealing a restricted number of “specialised” actors taking
part in them.
In brief, the coalition government was able to use dispositional
and facilitative power (Clegg, 1989) to have the
budget approved, and its power was not threatened by
parliamentary scrutiny and opposition parties. This finding