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Cash raised from revenues in Scotland reached a record high last year – but figures also showed “historically high” levels of public spending gave the country a £25.3 billion deficit.
Scottish Government figures for 2025-26 revealed that a total of £98.3 billion was taken in revenues – up by £6.3 billion (6.9%) from the previous year.
The increase came about after the UK Government hiked employers’ national insurance contributions – with this said to have raised £2.4 billion – while the Scottish Government’s decision to freeze higher income tax bands netted £1.5 billion.
However, the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (Gers) figures also showed revenue from the North Sea declined again, from almost £5.5 billion in 2023-24, to less than £4.5 billion the following year and some £3.9 billion in 2025-26.
As a result, the illustrative share assigned to Scotland fell to less than £3.2 billion in 2025-26, down from nearly £3.6 the previous year and almost £4.4 billion in 2023-24.
The Scottish Government report said: “The largest decrease in revenue was in North Sea taxes (minus £0.4 billion), which reflects falling oil and gas prices during the year.”
While revenues from Scotland raised £98.3 billion, public spending in Scotland totalled £123.6 billion in 2025-26 – an increase of £5.7 billion (4.8%) when compared to the previous year.
As a result, Scotland had a net fiscal balance in 2025-26 of minus £25.3 billion, – an improvement of £0.6 billion from 2024-25.
The report explained this was because “revenue grew by £6.3 billion (6.9%), while expenditure grew at a slower pace by £5.7 billion (4.8%)”.
However, this deficit was the equivalent of minus 10.9% of Scotland’s GDP.
This compares with a UK deficit worth minus 4.2% of GDP in 2025-26, with the report adding while Scotland’s position had improved by 0.6 points over the last 12 months, the UK had seen a one point improvement.
Spending per person in Scotland in 2025-26 was £22,281 compared to £19,561 per person in the UK – meaning public spending in Scotland was £2,720 higher per person than in the UK last year.
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