TIME FOR SNP TO AXE HIGH TAX OBSESSION

THE Scottish Government gets back to the office today with £2billion more to spend over the coming parliamentary term. That’s the impact of yesterday’s Budget on its own coffers.

And this morning it presents Nicola Sturgeon with a pressing question. Earlier this month, SNP ministers said they needed to hike income tax in Scotland to pay for the costly pledges they made before last year’s Holyrood election.

But if the SNP now has more money to spend thanks to yesterday’s Budget – £2billion more – why is it still pressing ahead with tax rises? Isn’t it now fair for the SNP to look again at its plans and leave hardworking taxpayers alone?

Unfortunately, the signs are that the SNP will refuse to reconsider. It seems determined to put its own survival before that of the Scottish economy.

Even before yesterday’s Budget, the need to rethink this ill-conceived strategy was clear. Now it is essential.

As Liz Cameron, chief executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce said yesterday, there is an ‘absolute necessity for Scotland to remain a competitive tax environment to attract investors and sustain businesses’.

With the SNP government preparing to unveil its own Budget plans next month ‘the net result should not be to make Scotland the most highly taxed part of the UK’, she added

Why is the SNP going down this road? It is hard to escape the conclusion that, as ever, the motivation is political.

Determined to highlight the differences between Scotland and the rest of the UK, the top priority is not to do what’s best for Scotland, but what’s best for the SNP’s prime objective.

Beholden to the Greens at Holyrood and fearing many of its supporters are leaking away to Labour, it has also decided it needs to head leftwards.

And so hard working taxpayers must pay up.

It could be so different – and I am proud the Scottish Conservatives showed how.

UNLIKE the SNP, we wanted to ensure key Scottish interests were heard and dealt with by the Chancellor. And we wanted to show that it’s by working with Westminster and our colleagues around the rest of the UK that Scotland benefits.

That alienating Westminster doesn’t work in Scotland’s best interests or get results.

The dozen new Scottish Conservative MPs elected in June joined Scottish Secretary David Mundell in pressing the case personally with ministers.

And rather than shout demands designed to fail into television microphones – as the SNP likes to do – we thoughtfully and rationally set out some priorities we believed required attention

Take whisky. This year, the industry was hit with an unexpected increase in duty. In the run-up to the Budget, distillers told us another rise would be deeply damaging. We therefore decided to press the case for a freeze in duty, making the case for a pre-Brexit boost for our greatest national export.

Or take Scotland’s police and emergency services. For the past few years, both had been paying VAT, thanks to the SNP’s botched centralisation, at a cost of £35million a year.

Three years of Nationalist grievance-mongering over the matter more focused on headlines than delivery had got our police and fire service nowhere. We patiently made the case for fixing the SNPs mess to benefit our emergency services.

Or take oil and gas. Industry figures in the North-East have been urging action so Scotland can become the global capital of decommissioning. Up to £40billion is at stake. We pressed it as a key priority, urging the Treasury for tax reforms to help free up investment.

It’s fair to say some to and fro ensued. Before every Budget, the Treasury is assailed from all sides by demands for spending and tax breaks. Quite rightly, at a time when money is short, its default position is to say ‘no’. And, in Chancellor Philip Hammond, quite rightly we have someone in charge who likes to see the bottom line. How much will it cost? What is this worth?

As well as David Mundell and myself, our MPs met ministers to make our case.

On whisky, they wanted to know why a duty freeze was necessary. We argued that, ahead of Brexit, our most iconic export needed a shot in the arm – helping it to invest now, in order to boost global sales.

On VAT, Treasury officials pointed out this was a mess of the SNP’s own making. So we made the case raised by police – that it was time to forget about the political blame game and sort it out for the future.

AND on oil and gas, ministers wanted to see the benefit of tax reforms – so we invited Mr Hammond to Aberdeen so he could see how the changes we supported could drive a vital strand of Britain’s economy. Both Mr Hammond and Theresa May tested our case. Both wanted to ensure taxpayers’ money was spent well. Sitting down with the Prime Minister in No 10 three weeks ago, she and her advisers peppered us with questions, seeking assurances that this would be money well spent.

Both listened and, after weeks of pressing, both acted.

All these measures will help Scotland – some by boosting economic growth, others by supporting the funding for our emergency services.

That’s what can be achieved with co-operation. This was our way: the SNP’s behaviour this week has been rather different.

Desperate to claim credit for the changes on VAT, they counted the times they had protested about the charge on police in an effort to show it was they who led the campaign for reform. The figure was over 100 – but this only highlights the futility of the SNP’s efforts this last few years.

Not surprisingly, when we spoke to Treasury staff, they were dug in after years of trench warfare with the SNP. It took our MPs and MSPs to press the case afresh to encourage the required movement.

The SNP government must now end its foghorn politics. It must instead focus on building a better relationship with the rest of the UK to ensure we all prosper.

And, at the same time, it would be a nice idea for it to focus more on its own responsibilities.

The extra £2billion it received yesterday can be used to support housing, infrastructure or on upgrading schools and hospitals.

I’d like to see the SNP take a leaf out of the Chancellor’s book. By backing oil and gas, supporting our whisky industry and delivering on city and regional deals, the Chancellor showed he is going for growth.

As we prepare for Brexit, that growth is the best way to ensure that we have the funding on which our schools and hospitals rely.

This UK Budget has delivered for Scotland. Let’s now see the SNP follow suit.