Friday 18 March 2016 9:07 am

Scottish National Party MSP John Swinney calls for Scottish chancellor after devolved powers are introduced

Scotland could need a its own chancellor when further revenue raising powers are devolved to Holyrood, Scottish National Party's John Swinney has said.

The deputy first minister said that Scotland could need a dedicated tax minister to oversee the new powers.

Swinney, who is current the cabinet secretary for finance, constitution and the economy, said there was "undoubtedly an argument" for a Scottish chancellor, adding it is "an interesting prospect worthy of further consideration given the nature of how our responsibilities are changing".

Speaking in Edinburgh, Swinney said: "There is an argument for there purely being a ministerial role that looks solely at the issues of tax and public expenditure control."

"There are other responsibilities of course. The responsibilities in this respect will be growing very dramatically in the course of the next few years. What has changed, and what I thought was quite evident in the Budget process in the last couple of years, was the growing proportion of time and Budget preparation that is now taken on tax-related issues.

"It opens up a very significant new set of issues and the deployment of responsibilities within government must be considered within that backdrop into the bargain."

Last month the Scottish and UK government agreed on a deal on the fiscal framework that will support new devolved powers.

Negotiations over the fiscal framework had been ongoing since March 2015, with both governments in deadlock over how to resolve Scotland's block grant.

The deal lays out how Holyrood – the Scottish parliament – will be funded when new tax raising powers are transferred across the border.