A good deal for local economy
In the general day to day debate of politics, there can often be a lot of sound and fury about a topic for a brief period of time, and then the attention moves on to some other topic.
I think members of the public often hear these great disputes and debates and wonder what all the fuss is about. I often have the same view.
There are however, more significant issues that are dwelt upon for longer and attract persistent attention for good reason.
I have often written here about Brexit and its impact on Scotland.
People may be getting a bit fed up of the debate but it is going to have a significant and negative effect and we need to consider it fully.
The Scottish Budget has been the major event at Holyrood this week. Parliament is obliged to set a budget for public services next year and under its new powers, must also set various tax rates particularly income tax. The budget really does matter because it affects what we invest in our National Health Service and the social care system, what support we give to local government especially our schools, the finance available to the police and the variety of other public services that must be funded.
The amount of money available in the Scottish Budget for day to day spending on public services is being cut by the UK Government by £200 million next year. We believe it is necessary to end the prolonged period of austerity that has affected our country and have taken the difficult decision to increase taxes for some people as a consequence of the budget.
Two new tax bands are going to be introduced - a new starter rate at 19p and an intermediate rate at 21p. The higher and additional rates will increase by 1p each and the rates will be applied to new bands of income.
As a result of these changes, 55 per cent of tax payers will pay less than if they lived in England and people earning up to £33,000 - which equates to 70 per cent of taxpayers- will pay less than they paid this year in taxation.
These are not easy decisions to take. They affect people’s incomes but we feel we need to invest more in public services and in ensuring our public servants - nurses, teachers and police officers and council employees - can secure a more reasonable pay increase after a long period of restraint.
Having set out his draft budget in December, the Finance Secretary Derek Mackay, has taken forward discussions with other parties to try to secure a majority for the government’s budget.
The Conservatives essentially sat out the process arguing for tax cuts and increases in spending doing. Elementary arithmetic demonstrates that cannot be done. The Labour Party came up with some proposals on Tuesday which would not have raised the amount of money they claimed and were simply unworkable. The Finance Secretary therefore engaged constructively in discussions with the Green Party. Some changes have been made to the budget resulting in Perth and Kinross Council receiving an extra £3.5 million in revenue from the Scottish Government.
That is a really good deal for the local community here and the whole budget is a really good deal for Scotland.
After nine years as Finance Minister I know how challenging a budget process can be. I think it is crystal clear that the Finance Secretary and the Scottish Government have looked at all of these issues with great care and attention to arrive at the best position for Scotland.
Derek Mackay MSP is the Scottish Government’s Finance Secretary. The post was previously held by Mr Swinney