More of the same

To describe it as a secret dossier makes it sound interesting, even glamorous. In reality, it's just another avoidable mess. The Scotsman reports:

"JACK McConnell last night dismissed as "trivia" demands that he publish a secret report on the Executive's budget before the next election.
The First Minister claimed the report, which civil servants have admitted could provoke a public backlash, would only be made available after the Holyrood poll.
Mr McConnell's refusal to sanction releasing the report, which ministers had previously promised to publish this year, came after he faced sustained pressure from the opposition at Holyrood. "

The report will no doubt be leaked within the next week or two and we can expect to find out that the Executive has been spending money in all sorts of ways which don't match their stated priorities. But I rather liked the following in The Herald:

"A source in the executive later said that the report being kept confidential was standard and should have been expected, and Mr McCabe had been unwise to promise an early publication."

So there - it wasn't the First Minister's fault. Though dumping on your finance minister (who knows where the bodies are buried) is not a tactic to be recommended, especially when Mr McCabe would not have promised early publication without prior clearance with Mr McConnell.