David Maddox: Budget goading

The verb to goad comes from the word for a big stick used to prod cattle in a certain direction and whilst the Tories may not care which direction their Lib Dem opponents go they have certainly decided to bring out a big stick to beat with them with over their position on the budget.
For those of you who need reminding, the Lib Dems have not exactly been negotiating much over the budget because they want a 2p cut in income tax using the Scottish Parliament's tax varying powers. The SNP oppose this because it would take £800 million from the Scottish budget.
Now you might expect a party that wants to reduce public spending by so much to not have a wishlist for extra spending. You would be wrong, claim the Tories. They have published a 91 item wishlist worth £8.3 billion which the Lib Dems have put their names to since Tavish Scott became leader in September. That's tenfold the savings they need for their tax cut.
The Lavish Tavish List includes £1 billion for the income tax cut, £1.8 billion for having a bigger new Forth Bridge, £330 million for extending paternity leave, £300 million on new dentists. The list really goes on and on.
The Lib Dems have of course hit back, calling it the Tories' "dodgy dossier"and say it is riddled with errors. A spokesman also suggested that it was a diversionary tactic away from the fact that the Tories have appeared to be asking for so little for them to support the SNP's budget.
The interesting point to this is that it very much sums up the supporting act in the two bouts that are going on in Holyrood. The headline act is the battle to be number 1 between Labour and the Nats, while the Lib Dems and Tories are locked in the battle to be number 3.
It's all a far cry from when the Tories were the biggest party in Scotland decades ago and the more recent pre-2007 election claim by the Lib Dems that they could be the biggest party in Holyrood.
If last year's by-elections are to be taken as evidence it is a battle the Tories are winning by dint of not being completely squeezed out by the two big parties and also their extra Holyrood seat from the 2007 election.
The two are also positioning themselves as the party of tax cuts for the 2011 Holyrood election. The Lib Dems want this to fall in income tax, the Tories in council tax.
All this matters, of course, because in a parliament of minorities even the Greens two MSPs can hold sway.
The first budget vote is tomorrow (Wednesday), but expect far more fun and games by the time the final vote takes place on January 28.