We are unconvinced that the budget announced by the Scottish Government today meets the rising demand for mental health services in Scotland.

Report after report this year has highlighted the vast scale of the mental health epidemic across Scotland, which is worsening by the day. We need urgent change to the way we deliver mental health care and how we fund it.

This situation calls for an approach to radically reshape the Scottish mental health landscape and maximise the opportunities of the new Mental Health and Wellbeing Delivery Plan.

Instead, we have seen the mental health services budget frozen, meaning a real-terms cut due to inflation. The Scottish Government’s recent Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and Delivery Plan are rightly ambitious, but they require the funding and resources to be appropriately delivered.

We will continue to call for mental health services to receive the funding and resources they need to effectively tackle Scotland’s mental health epidemic.