Measures that appeal to the head... and wallet
THE UNION
SUPPORT for the United Kingdom runs through the spine of the Scottish Tory manifesto. Despite Nicola Sturgeon’s warnings, it insists: ‘No decision-making that has been devolved will be taken back to Westminster.’ Practical measures buttress rhetoric, including a Borderlands Growth Deal and a Shared Prosperity Fund. Exports will be promoted and farming and fishing safeguarded during Brexit. More civil servant jobs will be moved out of the south-east. It’s Ruth Davidson and Theresa May’s way of saying: Staying together isn’t just about your heart but your head and your wallet.
INDEPENDENCE
UNSURPRISINGLY, opposition to independence plays a prominent role. Theresa May has ruled out another plebiscite on breaking up Britain unless and until two conditions are met: ‘The Brexit process has played out’ and there is ‘public consent’ for it. The wording is vague enough to kick independence years down the road.
ECONOMY
A TORY government at Westminster will raise the personal allowance on income tax to £12,500 by 2020, while the Scottish Tories say they will press the SNP to lift the higher rate threshold to £50,000. This would provide relief to families currently taxed as ‘rich’ when they are in fact struggling to get by. Air passenger duty would be scrapped for long-haul flights and frozen for short distance routes. The oil sector would continue to receive support but since reserves are drying up, investment will also focus on decommissioning.
EDUCATION
ONE of the SNP’s weak points, the Tories hope to capitalise on that by arguing for a school system based on parental choice and diversity of provision. Ruth Davidson’s party wants heads to have full autonomy over the purse strings. It also wants to see the Curriculum for Excellence reformed to cut bureaucracy and emphasise tradi-
tional subjects, and Teach First, which attracts the brightest graduates into the profession, rolled out in Scotland.
HEALTH
THE Scottish Tories have opposed ‘free’ prescriptions but that has been dropped. The U-turn is likely to prove popular with older voters. The Tories are pushing for the implementation of Frank’s Law, named after Dundee United footballer Frank Kopel, diagnosed with dementia aged 59. The legislation would give under-65s the same right to free treatment as over-65s.
COST OF LIVING
WITH ‘fairness’ central to their approach to the cost of living issue UK-wide, the Tories plan a crackdown on energy price gougers by setting a tariff cap on increases. The pledge to build more than 100,000 homes in Scotland over five years will be welcomed by those who dream of owning their home. Winter fuel payments would not be means-tested in Scotland and Ruth Davidson’s team would work to ensure no pensioner in Scotland struggles to heat their home by the end of the next decade.
FISHING
THE EU Common Fisheries policy led many fishermen to support Leave in the EU referendum. The Scottish Tory manifesto pledges a new regulatory framework after Brexit to ‘preserve and increase fish stocks and help to ensure prosperity for a new generation of fishermen’. Special consideration is to be given to the specific needs of Scotland.