SNP AND LABOUR WASTE MONEY ON AN INDUSTRIAL SCALE, CLAIMS SCOTTISH CONSERVATIVE LEADER

First Minister John Swinney, Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay.

By Bill Heaney

In Scotland, our lives and lifestyles are dictated by how much money we have in our sporran.

And our economic performance is no laughing matter as Russell Findlay, the Scottish Conservative Party leader appeared to believe when he confronted the First Minister in the Holyrood parliament.

Findlay claimed: “An analysis of tax and the economy in Scotland outlines that Scottish National Party tax rises are costing Scottish workers £1.7 billion each year.

“We should have an extra £1.7 billion to spend, but we do not, because the Scottish Fiscal Commission identifies what it calls an ‘economic performance gap’ with the rest of the United Kingdom. That actually reduces the amount that is available to spend.”

Does John Swinney know the size of the economic performance gap between SNP-run Scotland and the rest of the UK, he asked.

Mr Swinney replied: “The important point to consider is that the extra revenue that is raised as a consequence of the tax decisions that we have taken in Scotland enables us to invest in public services and other interventions that support the Government’s policy agenda.

“Those changes and differences are well acknowledged and well understood in Scotland. For example, we have a much more significant provision of early learning and childcare in Scotland, which meets the needs of families.

“In addition, the Scottish child payment helps to keep children out of poverty. In Scotland, we have a falling child poverty rate, whereas child poverty rates are rising in the rest of the United Kingdom.

“There are differences in policy outcomes that come from the Government’s decisions to ask people on higher incomes to pay slightly more in taxation.”

But Russell Findlay pressed on: “That is more smoke and mirrors from John Swinney. He does not seem to know the figures, so let me help him. SNP tax rises for hard-working Scots should result in £1.7 billion more to spend, but, because the SNP-run economy lags behind the economy in the rest of the UK, the Scottish Fiscal Commission says that the Scottish Government has only £600 million more to spend.

“Under the SNP, there is a £1.1 billion economic performance gap—and that is just this year. Last year, it was another £1 billion.

“Over the past 10 years, according to the SFC, the economic performance gap between Scotland and the rest of the UK adds up to £5.4 billion. Does John Swinney now realise that anti-business SNP policies are costing Scotland a fortune?”

The First Minister dispted this. He said: “The data tells us that the Scottish economy in terms of GDP per capita has grown at a faster rate in Scotland than in the rest of the United Kingdom.

“We take a number of steps to invest in the economy. We are supporting investment in key sectors of the economy, such as renewable energy, and we are actively involved in investing in the skills system to support the development of the economy.

“We assist companies by having a competitive business rates regime in Scotland, which reduces the burden of business rates on companies, enabling them to invest in their business operations.

“That is what Scotland gets from the business-friendly SNP Government.”

“John Swinney does not even seem to accept that the economic performance gap exists. It is peak SNP denial. The SFC is saying it—it is in its report, which the First Minister should try to read.

“The SNP has failed to keep up with the rest of the UK. It has made the situation even worse by wasting billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on a national care service that does not treat patients, the endless CalMac ferry scandal, a £1 billion prison with bird and bat boxes and an annual benefits bill that will soon top £9 billion.

“The SNP is costing Scotland £1 billion a year in lost growth and countless billions of pounds through its sheer incompetence. Is that not exactly why John Swinney cannot bring down bills or improve public services? He is throwing all the money away.”

The First Minister claimed  Scotland’s economic performance has been superior to that of the rest of the United Kingdom.

He told MSPs who were causing an uproar in the chamber: “Russell Findlay highlights the fact that there are choices to be made about public expenditure. When he talks about the annual benefits bill, he has to be explicit about what he is talking about.

“What benefits would he cut? We believe that it is important that we support children out of poverty. Is that what Russell Findlay wants to stop?  I think that that is what we are talking about. Russell Findlay wants to end the Scottish child payment and consign more children to poverty.

“The SNP wastes money on an industrial scale, but, unbelievably, Labour looked at the SNP’s economic record and decided to copy it.

“It has already raised national insurance, but there is more pain to come. The spending review signals a return to tax and spend.

“Rachel Reeves is shafting business, workers, farmers and the oil and gas industry, but at least there is enough money now for John Swinney to give Scots a tax break. Will he commit to bringing down the burden on Scottish workers and families?”

“That could reasonably have been predicted, given the increase in employer national insurance contributions—indeed, I warned about it. If we are to have an agenda that is focused on growth, I do not understand why the UK Labour Government decided to support a growth-reducing measure such as raising employer national insurance contributions, which the evidence now tells us is suppressing growth in the United Kingdom. That is the context in which we are operating.

“This Government will do what it always does. We will focus on the needs of the people of Scotland. We will focus on lifting children out of poverty, on improving our public services, on the journey to net zero and on improving the economic performance of Scotland, just as we have done in the past.”