Holyrood has been given a little more room to borrow after the UK Government brought in the Scotland Act 1998 (Increase of Borrowing Limits) Order 2026. According to legislation.gov.uk, the Order was made on 29 June 2026 and came into force a day later, on 30 June. On the page it reads like classic statutory instrument fare, but the change matters. Borrowing powers are one of the few pressure valves in any devolved system, especially when ministers are trying to keep day-to-day budgets steady while still funding longer-term projects.

The Order lifts Scotland’s resource borrowing limit from £1,834.303 million to £1,910.141 million, an increase of £75.838 million. It also raises the capital borrowing limit from £3,144.519 million to £3,274.527 million, adding another £130.008 million of headroom for capital spending. That is not a dramatic rewrite of the devolution settlement, and it is not a blank cheque either. What it does give Scottish ministers is a slightly wider margin when public finances are tight and when major investment plans need backing.

Formally, the measure was made by the Secretary of State under powers in sections 67(3) and 67A(2) of the Scotland Act 1998, with Treasury consent. The draft had already been laid before and approved by the House of Commons, which tells its own story about where fiscal control still sits even as borrowing room is being adjusted for Holyrood. The Order is signed by Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Kirsty McNeill for the Scotland Office, with Treasury consent from Christian Wakeford and Deirdre Costigan dated 22 June 2026. It also revokes the 2025 borrowing limits Order, which has now been overtaken by this year’s figures.

The explanatory note is blunt. It says a full impact assessment has not been produced because no, or no significant, effect on the voluntary or public sector is foreseen. Whitehall often treats measures like this as technical housekeeping, but borrowing ceilings are never just admin. They shape how much room a government has when revenues shift or when big spending plans need to be timed properly. That matters in Scotland, and it matters to readers further south too. Across the North of England, councils, combined authorities and regional campaigners have spent years arguing that devolution only works when places have proper financial powers to match the political headlines.

Seen from a Northern Ledger angle, the small print here carries a bigger message. Scotland’s borrowing settlement continues to be updated through law, while English regions are still too often handed responsibility without the same financial freedom. For mayors and town halls trying to sort transport, housing and regeneration, that contrast will not go unnoticed. There is a wider UK question in the background: how serious Westminster is about letting places plan for themselves. If devolved government is meant to be more than branding, then the money side has to move with it.

Legally, the Order extends to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland because it amends the Scotland Act itself. In practice, though, its effect is on Scotland’s fiscal room and on the continuing shape of devolution across the UK. This is the kind of change that can slip past most people because it arrives as dry legal text rather than a set-piece announcement. Still, from 30 June 2026 the limits are higher, the 2025 Order is gone, and the argument about who gets to borrow, build and plan outside London has edged on again.