Scotland escapes worst of spending cuts As these are being protected by the Coalition, Scotland's cut is much less than average. Mr Osborne told MPs: "It's right for the Scottish Parliament to decide how best to use it - that is devolution within a United Kingdom delivering for Scotland." Michael Moore, the Scottish Secretary, urged SNP ministers to welcome a "fair and positive result for Scotland." Holyrood is to receive £25.7 billion of day-to-day spending in 2015/16, a 0.1 per cent reduction annually in cash terms. SNP ministers have been calling for greater capital spending and Mr Osborne obliged by granting them £3 billion of funding for public building schemes, a 2.7 per cent increase in real terms. When the £300 million borrowing limit was added, their additional capital spending power will increase by 12.9 per cent in 2015/16. But Mr Swinney argued that the relatively minor reduction was thanks to the Barnett formula and not any decision by the Chancellor to protect Scotland. He added that the borrowing powers had been previously promised and that tranche of funding would have to be paid back. "What the Chancellor has set out is a clear route map of further reductions in public spending that will go all the way through to 2017/18," he said. It demonstrates the path the United Kingdom is on is a path of austerity and budget reductions and if Scotland stays part of the United Kingdom that's exactly what we will get. But the Finance Minister came under pressure over whether he would follow Mr Osborne's example by scrapping "back door" pay rises in the public sector. The Chancellor announced he would end "pay progression" awards, which are supposedly linked to performance but in practice are often handed out for time served in addition to annual salary increases. This decision will affect UK civil servants in Scotland but Mr Swinney had control over whether it should apply to thousands of other public sector workers, including quango staff. The Finance Minister will make a decision in September but added: "As we try to reform public services, we've got to make sure we take our public sector workforce with us."