Labour today claimed Parliament is being asked sign a "blank cheque" for almost £20bn in the Scottish Government's forthcoming budget.

Shadow finance secretary Iain Gray today criticised the lack of detail in the spending review figures and called on finance secretary John Swinney to make changes.

But Mr Swinney hit back claiming that Labour does not trust its own leaders on local councils around the country.

MSPs were debating the budget, published in draft form last year, this morning at Holyrood.

Mr Gray said that Parliament was effectively being asked to sign a "blank cheque" for £19bn in funding to councils and health boards to deliver "uncosted service developments" without any direct link to outcomes.

"This is a minority government without a mandate to govern unsupported," he said.

"It should be providing more information and greater transparency to build an informed consensus."

He added: "This government gives every appearance of deliberately hiding the detail of its budget to avoid proper scrutiny."

Mr Gray said the budget contained a "string of broken promises" on police numbers, home buyers grants and class sizes.

He cited a number of organisations including Princes Trust, Children's First, the Scottish Association of Mental Health and NCH Scotland which had voiced concerns about the removal of ring fenced funding to councils.

This is where central government funding is allocated to specific areas and cannot be spent elsewhere.

Mr Gray said: "I accept that removing ring-fencing does not mean that services will certainly be lost - only that it is raising that fear and the government should not dismiss those fears."

Mr Gray said there is to be a "real terms" cut in the housing budget.

He also told the SNP's Alex Neil that Labour is currently pursuing changes to the budget through the committee process in private, but would be bringing forward amendments in Parliament after this.

These will include plans for 15,000 additional apprenticeships, vocational opportunities in every Scottish school and support in connecting Scotland through direct air routes.

He called on Mr Swinney to make changes to the budget and amend it before it comes before Parliament as a Bill.