Nicola Sturgeon warns the Treasury it has until the end of the week to change fiscal framework position

Nicola Sturgeon has warned the Treasury it has until the end of the week to change its stance on the fiscal framework negotiations if a deal can be put in front of the Scottish Parliament before the election.

The First Minister has written to David Cameron, accusing the Treasury of looking to abandon the ‘no detriment’ principle in the Smith Agreement, and urging the Prime Minister to intervene so negotiations move forward.

Sturgeon warned Cameron that a failure to agree to the Scottish Government’s latest proposal “would mean, in my view, that you had failed to honour both your pre-referendum Vow and your commitment to implement in full the recommendations of the Smith Commission”.

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Sturgeon said: “Though time is running out, I remain committed to reaching an agreement. However, if we are to do so we must make substantial progress - and see significant movement from the Treasury - in a short space of time. I hope you will be prepared to intervene to make sure that this happens.”

She added: “I must stress that if the Scottish Parliament is to have adequate time to scrutinise any agreement it is possible for us to reach, it is essential that we reach agreement on the key areas of principle by the end of this week, and ensure adequate time for thorough due diligence on all of the detail before any agreement is finalised and before the Scottish Parliament gives its consent to the Scotland Bill.”

Talks between the Scottish and UK governments over how to reduce the block grant following the transfer of powers under the Scotland Bill remain deadlocked amid a disagreement over their interpretation of the “no detriment” principle laid out by the Smith Commission.

The two sides tabled fresh proposals last week as the Scottish Affairs Committee came out in support of the Scottish Government’s preferred block grant reduction plan, known as the ‘per capita’ method of indexation.

The cross party group suggested an additional adjustment could be built in to ensure Scotland’s funding per capita does not increase beyond a certain point relative to the rest of the UK.

Read Nicola Sturgeon's letter, in full, here.