I’LL CUT TAX FOR MIDDLE SCOTLAND
Scots Tory leadership hopeful vows to reverse SNP hikes
THE Scottish Tories will reverse punishing SNP tax rises on middle earners, Jackson Carlaw vowed yesterday.
The party leadership candidate intends to close the growing tax gap between Scotland and the rest of the UK.
As a result, around 860,000 Scots earning between £26,000 and £45,000 would be saved from the highest taxes in the UK.
But in a major policy shift, he said that under his leadership the party would no longer ‘prioritise’ tax cuts for those earning more than £45,000 – around 350,000 people.
Mr Carlaw admitted that the Tories ‘have to change and embrace change quickly’ to attract new voters – and he promised to focus on ‘taking down’ Nicola Sturgeon.
At the formal launch of his leadership bid in Edinburgh yesterday, Mr Carlaw said he stands for ‘a decent, generous-spirited, aspirational conservatism that promotes the values and ambitions of middle Scotland’.
He added: ‘Scots earning £26,000
are not Scotland’s affluent elite – they are the everyday, middle-of-the-road earners who are the backbone of our country.
‘Yet it is from that modest threshold that Scots begin an accelerated ladder of higher taxation. That’s just unfair.
‘And let me be clear, I’m not talking about the earnings of an MSP or those at the very top. Of course I want the very best to come to Scotland, set up new businesses, support the senior positions in our public services.
‘I mean prioritising support for those on marginal earnings now paying more: nurses, teachers, police officers who have worked hard, over years, to advance their careers and contribute to society. It’s unfair, unjust and bad for Scotland.’
Mr Carlaw said the party under his leadership would argue for ‘a rebalancing of taxation in Scotland, focusing not on those at the top of the earnings scale but on those on lower incomes for whom the burden of extra tax has become so evidently clear’.
Those earning between £26,000 and £45,000 ‘work hard in their careers to progress, they shouldn’t be paying more for doing the job they are doing to advance their lives, their families, to the benefit of Scotland’.
Mr Carlaw insisted he is ‘not content’ that those earning £45,000-plus currently pay more tax in Scotland than the rest of the UK.
But he added: ‘In the immediate period in which a Conservative government is in office, we have to prioritise where we are going to target support and our principal targeted area of support will be that group of people who I define as middle Scotland – those who are the nurses, the teachers, police officers, train drivers and others who through hard effort in their career, having just got above that threshold, are now told in the Scottish parliament by the SNP that they are Scotland’s rich.
‘They are not rich, they are hardworking ordinary Scots and that is the group I’m going to target in the first instance and prioritise.’
An SNP overhaul of taxation has forced everyone earning more than £27,000 to pay more income tax in Scotland than in the rest of the UK. Someone earning £35,000 pays £80 more in Scotland per year, rising to £1,544 for those earning £50,000.
Mr Carlaw also praised former Tory leader Ruth Davidson for having galvanised ‘a tired old wreck of a party’. But he said the 2016 Holyrood election result must not be the Tories’ ‘glass ceiling’ and the ambition must be ‘to remove Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP from power, nothing less’.
He added: ‘To achieve that, we have to change and embrace change quickly and with a total commitment.’ Promising an ‘urgent review’ of policy, he said it could lead to some ‘long-held positions’ being scrapped.
Among policies to be considered is the Tories’ opposition to free university tuition. The planned review will look at devolved and reserved areas.
Mr Carlaw said: ‘I have spent the last 18 months taking on Nicola Sturgeon. I am asking you now to let me spend the next 18 months taking her down.’
Responding on social media, Miss Sturgeon wrote: ‘Tough man talk, but didn’t he just “take me on” in the general election and lose half his seats?
‘On the strength of that performance, he’s certainly my favoured candidate for Tory leader.’
Comment – Page 14
‘Unfair, unjust and bad for Scotland’