BORIS’ TORY PAL A BIG FAN OF ECK
Donor also backs devolving corporation tax control
BORIS Johnson’s new Scotland Office Minister supports devolving control of corporation tax to Holyrood.
Financier Malcolm Offord has also praised ex-First Minister Alex Salmond for his time in power.
Offord’s appointment yesterday led to accusations of cronyism due to his status as a Tory donor.
The Greenock-born businessman has ploughed in nearly £150,000 to the party over the years.
He will be made a life peer, which allows him to take the Scotland Office role.
However, a trawl of his past statements show he has taken positions at odds with orthodox Tory thinking.
In an April piece for Reform Scotland on turbo-charging the economy, Offord laid out a series of proposals for boosting growth.
He wrote: “Promote immigration. If we had secured our proportionate share of UK immigration in the last 30 years, our population would be one million higher.
“Our population is ageing and we need more taxpayers. Targeting the three million British Overseas Nationals in Hong Kong would be a great start.”
The SNP believes all taxes should be under Holyrood control, including corporation tax – a move opposed by pro-UK parties.
Offord wrote: “Devolve corporation tax. This would allow a pro-business administration to design a bespoke regime of incentives to encourage entrepreneurs, inward investment, business start-ups and thereby create more higherrate taxpayers.”
The tycoon, chairman of Edinburgh-based invest ment company Badenoch and Co, also launched the pro-UK “No Borders” project during the 2014 referendum.
Offord said he had been worried about the internal tensions within Better Together.
He also described Salmond as a “clever, brilliant politician.
The Scotland Office has been contacted.