Scotland’s budget was passed by Parliament last week despite Labour MSPs unanimously voting against it and the Liberal Democrats abstaining from the vote. Scottish National Party MSP, Bob Doris, has challenged Glasgow's Labour MSPs to reveal the real reasons they tried to vote the budget down.

"Labour MSPs said they wanted the Glasgow Airport Rail Link included but they didn’t put forward an amendment to the budget at stage one, the only point in the process where they could have identified what other budget to cut and reinstate GARL.

"Instead, they put forward a meaningless amendment at stage 3 to grab some headlines. They knew fine well the project had been made unaffordable because of Labour cuts, £814 million in 2010/11 alone.

"These MSPs also voted against the 2.7% increase in NHS spending, increased spending in frontline education and student support, lower prescription charges and the third consecutive council tax freeze.

"Glasgow council tax shot up by 51% for a band D between 1997 and 2008 when the SNP Government first funded the freeze. People in Glasgow will not take too kindly to Labour's latest attempts to promote more council tax hikes.

"As we head towards a UK General Election Labour are looking desperate. All they can do is play divisive politics and pretend that the West of Scotland is getting a raw deal from Edinburgh.

"The M74 extension failed to be delivered under successive Tory and Labour Governments at Westminster and Liberal/ Labour coalitions at Holyrood. The SNP announced the M74 almost immediately upon taking office as it was the most vital missing link in Scotland’s road infrastructure.”

"People will not be fooled by these games. There is no cash there to pay for GARL at the moment and the outlook for the Scottish block grant looks bleak whoever wins the General Election.

"This budget was a list of the peoples priorities, including a boiler scrappage scheme and a post office diversification scheme. Those who voted against without bothering to propose sensible alternatives could have cost jobs and should be ashamed of their actions."