SCOTS ’SHAFTED’ BY TORY NATIONAL INSURANCE HIKE
Blackford warns PM against imposing rise to pay for England’s elderly care crisis
TAXPAYERS in Scotland face being “shafted” by Boris Johnson’s plans to impose a National Insurance hike on millions to fix the crisis in care for England’s elderly, the SNP has claimed.
The Prime Minister is preparing to announce a manifesto-busting hike of 1.25 per cent this week which aims to raise about £10billion a year for social care and the NHS.
Labour leader Keir Starmer has ruled out backing a National Insurance rise, which will see younger workers and low earners across the UK paying for the care of the elderly in England.
While there is likely to be an equivalent increase in the Scottish block grant from the UK Treasury to offset the rise, there is no clarity on how the UK-wide tax would be redistributed to devolved governments.
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford accused Johnson of imposing a “new Tory poll tax on Scotland” – a reference to Margaret Thatcher’s decision to introduce the community charge first north of the Border.
Blackford said: “Boris Johnson must ditch his damaging Tory tax hike, which would unfairly penalise Scottish families by forcing them to pay the bill for the Westminster social care crisis in England. Yet again, Scotland is being shafted with a new Tory poll tax being imposed against our will.
“Scottish families are already being hit hard by the £1040 Tory cuts to Universal Credit and the long-term economic damage of Brexit – they must not be forced to pay hundreds of pounds more each year for Tory failure.
“The Tories came to regret imposing the poll tax. If Boris Johnson breaks yet another manifesto pledge, the Tories will descend even further into irrelevance in Scotland.”
Blackford has written to Johnson ahead of an expected parliamentary statement on Tuesday warning a “new Tory poll tax on Scotland” would penalise families here by landing them with the bill to fix a crisis in England.
Thousands of Scots earning over £43,000 a year already pay more in income tax than those in the rest of the UK.
The bands set by Holyrood see Scots pay 41 per cent tax on earnings over £43,663. For UK taxpayers, the 40 per cent higher rate begins at £50,270 a year.
SNP Treasury spokeswoman Alison Thewliss MP also raised the wider unfairness of a National Insurance increase, which would see young earners and low-income workers paying extra for the care of older, wealthier pensioners.
She said: “This adds to the intergenerational unfairness faced by young people and the pain faced by low-income families, alongside Tory cuts to Universal Credit and the premature termination of the furlough scheme.
“Scottish families have already been hammered by a decade of Tory austerity cuts, and the UK now has the worst levels of poverty in north-west Europe.
“If Boris Johnson goes ahead with this Tory tax hike, it will cement inequality and push families even further into hardship and crisis.”