BLACK THURSDAY

Day that SNP’s own experts admitted economy will trail UK for 5 YEARS... but (you guessed it) Nationalists blame Westminster!

SCOTLAND’S sluggish economy will trail behind the UK’s for five more years – blowing a £1.7billion black hole in public finances.

The Scottish Government’s own economic forecaster yesterday warned that income tax will bring in much less than it predicted only three months ago.

It also warned that productivity and wage growth will be lower next year than predicted and employment will not rise.

Critics said the figures show the SNP is ‘unfit to run Scotland’s economy’ and its decision to make Scots earning more than £26,000 pay the highest taxes in the UK is damaging growth.

Fears were also raised about the huge impact the downgraded tax revenues could have on public services.

But Finance Secretary Derek Mackay claimed the economy is ‘subdued’ because the UK Government keep him in a ‘fiscal straitjacket’.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) downgraded the estimated revenue from income tax over the next five years by £1.69billion compared to three months ago.

When Mr Mackay introduced his tax changes in February, the Commission estimated income tax would raise £12.18billion this year and £66.08billion over the next five years.

Yesterday, it reduced this to £11.97billion this year and £64.39billion over five years.

The Commission said that ‘continued slow growth in the economy, and in turn wages, means slow growth in income tax revenues’.

Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said: ‘This is the most damning evidence yet that the SNP is unfit to run Scotland’s economy.

‘The consequences of tax hikes, poor growth and low productivity look set to cost public finances hundreds of millions of pounds.

‘Not only is this bleak news for the future, it also leaves an immediate hole in Scotland’s budget of more than £200million.

‘Unless the SNP government sorts this out, the consequences could be even deeper cuts to public services. That means schools, hospitals and infrastructure could all take a serious hit.

‘The SNP has obsessed with the constitution for years now, and we can see the impact of its neglect on areas like the economy in these figures.’

The Commission forecast the economy will trail the UK’s for each of the next five years. It said GDP growth will be just 0.8 per cent, compared to a previous estimate of 0.9 per cent, while productivity will grow by 0.5 per cent, rather than 0.6 per cent.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: ‘The Scottish Fiscal Commission has downgraded the forecasts for Scotland’s public finances by £1.7billion over the next five years. This is grim news, a clear failure of the Scottish Government to boost the economy after ten years in government.

‘From investing in people and skills to delivering the necessary infrastructure, this Government has been found wanting.

‘The real-world impact of this adjusted forecast is less money for our schools, our hospitals and our police service.

‘Today the Finance Secretary tried every trick in the book to avoid answering but the public now know it has been a decade of economic mismanagement.’

At Holyrood yesterday, Mr Mackay said: ‘Contrary to what the Conservatives said about my tax plans, the reasons behind the subdued forecast from the SFC is about population and productivity – who controls that?

‘The UK Right-wing, Brexit-mad Tory Government that are trying to keep me in a fiscal straitjacket so I can’t deliver the kind of economic growth that Scotland would wish to see.’

‘SNP is unfit to run economy’

WHILE the SNP is once again distracted by its independence monomania, its own economic forecaster is confirming what the rest of us already know – the Nationalists are fiscal incompetents.

Our sluggish economy will continue to limp behind that of the UK, suffering from weak overall growth, feeble productivity and limited wage growth, leaving a yawning £1.7billion gulf in public finances.

The pace of the slippage is alarming. The Scottish Fiscal Commission has downgraded the estimated revenue from income tax over the next five years by £1.69billion compared to its previous assessment just three months ago.

As ever, the Nationalists are casting around for anyone to blame – the Tories at Westminster, or Brexit (though it would affect the UK as a whole, not just Scotland).

Blame lies much closer to home. Finance Secretary Derek Mackay’s first act with his new income tax powers was to saddle Scots with the highest bills in the land, making over a million workers pay more.

That huge disadvantage is a brake on progress and investment.

So now we face the grim prospect of public spending cuts and Mr Mackay has already said he expects to raise taxes still further, warning increased ‘divergence’ between the Scottish and UK tax regimes is likely.

Incredibly, Mr Mackay tried to shift blame for his government’s poor economic performance onto the UK Government.

‘The Tory Government… are trying to keep me in a fiscal straitjacket so I can’t deliver the kind of economic growth Scotland would wish to see.’

What a pathetic stance for a senior Cabinet figure, a man touted as a rising star in the Nationalist movement.

The truth is that the SNP is fixating on its over-hyped Growth Commission report, rooted in the fantasy world of independence, and is clueless on the here-and-now crisis.

If tax hikes and spending cuts are the damage Mr Mackay inflicts when he is in a straitjacket, someone ought to tie the straps tighter still.