​The budget satisfied no one, leaving our health service on its knees - John McLellan

Overall funding is up 2.6 per cent with income tax hikes expected to raise £1.5bn. The resource grant from the UK Government is increasing by £2.8bn to £41.9bn, and capital funding is rising to £5.9bn.

Nor can it be forgotten that public spending is over £2,000 higher per head than England, and with inflation now a manageable 3.9 per cent, the lowest for over two years, the SNP’s problems are not caused by “Tory austerity” but their own choices.

The majority of cash is going to social security payments, but what is inexplicable is the £196m cut to the affordable housing programme which, according to the Fraser of Allander Institute, represents a 37 per cent whack in two years. This is despite the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s research for the Edinburgh Poverty Commission clearly demonstrating that lack of affordable housing was the single-biggest contributor to poverty.

Throwing money at benefits does nothing to tackle the underlying causes and all the SNP triumphalism about the Scottish Child Payment is no comfort to families stuck in emergency bed-and-breakfast accommodation because of a failure to build enough homes.

Meanwhile, the council tax freeze, Mr Yousaf’s knee-jerk reaction to crushing defeat at the Rutherglen by-election, benefits the wealthiest households more than the poorest. Despite a promise the freeze would be fully funded, Robison allocated £144m to local authorities, equivalent to a five per cent increase, but over £800m less than they need to stand still and meet Scottish Government salary deals.

Public sector pay is up around eight per cent, but councils must fund a 14.6 per cent settlement for teachers, so a five per cent council tax hike was never going to be enough and they were expecting to increase rates for Band E to H houses by up to 22.5 per cent, raising an estimated £180m. But Mr Yousaf cancelled that too.

Civic leaders are set to meet today to discuss their response, but unless Mr Yousaf orders a U-turn, they face a bonfire of their services. The 100,000 workers now sucked into the higher income tax won’t see much benefit from a council tax freeze, but they will certainly feel the impact of Mr Yousaf’s spending spree as bins go unemptied, potholes remain unfilled and libraries and leisure centres close.

The only other significant beneficiary in Tuesday’s budget is the real terms increase in health spending, but without reform it’s a vortex which swallows money because an inefficient system designed in the 1940s can’t cope with an ageing population.

SNP bragging cuts no ice when you can’t see a GP and you’ve been waiting over two years for a hip replacement.

Tuesday’s budget satisfied neither left nor right, leaving Scotland with a health service on its knees, an education system failing thousands of children, a dire shortage of homes and an uncompetitive economy which will struggle to attract the best professionals because of punitive taxation.

And with the independence cause in the doldrums the question is what is the purpose of the SNP? For Mr Yousaf, the answer appears to be survival.