SNP DECADE OF WASTE COST £1bn

Nationalists insist they must hammer Scots with an income tax increase, but the Tories detail how they fritter away our cash

SNP ministers have wasted almost £1billion on department and project overspends since taking power. A new dossier published by the Scottish Conservatives yesterday has exposed what they claim is a ‘decade of waste’, with the Scottish Government failing to deliver key projects within budget.

The Tories put the cost of overspending on Government departments and public sector projects at £431.5million.

Once the cost of public sector over-runs in areas where the Government has partial responsibility – including the railways and the NHS – is added, the figure soars to £947.7million.

The figures emerged ahead of Thursday’s Scottish Budget, in which Finance Secretary Derek Mackay is expected to raise tax bills for middle-class Scots.

He has already claimed he ‘cannot afford’ to pass on changes to tax bands Chancellor Philip Hammond is using to cut bills elsewhere in the UK.

Scottish Tory finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said: ‘The SNP claims it can’t afford to give Scots the same tax break as people will receive elsewhere in the UK because there isn’t enough money.

‘Our dossier shows that is total nonsense. The money is there – it’s just that it’s being frittered away.

‘Incredibly, SNP incompetence has cost Turn to Page 2

Scotland more than the entire cost of the Scottish parliament building, itself a by-word for massive waste.

‘Hundreds of millions of pounds have been frittered away on bungled IT projects and cost overruns.

‘So our message to the SNP this week is clear. Get back to the day job, cut the waste – and pass the savings back to families and firms who need a break.

‘The SNP has spent far too long obsessing about independence. In so doing, as our research shows, it has entirely forgotten to do the day job that we pay ministers to do.

‘Enough of the excuses and the complaints.

‘The SNP needs to sort out the mess they are making of government and give a break to hard-working taxpayers and local firms right across Scotland.’

So far, the Scottish Government has refused to back a tax cut for Scots middle- earners already being delivered by the UK Government.

Instead, Mr Mackay is poised to make Scottish workers the most highly taxed in the UK.

Critics have hit out at his plans to leave tax thresholds – the salary levels at which workers begin to pay the 40p and 45p tax rates – unchanged.

Middle-earners will also suffer from a UK-wide increase in National Insurance thresholds, details of which were hidden in the fine print of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement.

The combined impact of these measures means that Scots earning more than £43,000 will be £114 worse off next year, while those in the rest of the UK will be £200 better off.

The Tory dossier claimed the direct overspend on individual public sector projects, such as the Edinburgh tram inquiry, was £152.91million.

Figures for all the separate budgets within the public sector showed an overspend of £264.38million. This included an overspend on policing budgets of £31.75million, on 2014’s infrastructure budget of £17.33million and on rural affairs of £42million.

The rural affairs figure included spending on the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy reforms in the farming industry.

Figures in the dossier also show that the Government had a ‘permanent loss’ of £14.21million after ministers ‘failed to comply with a number of technical rules relating to EU grants for infrastructure projects, leading to a direct loss of funds’.

The overspend on projects for which Scottish ministers are partially responsible, including rail improvements, was £516.2million.

The minority SNP Government will face a battle in the Scottish parliament this week to pass its Budget – and will have to secure backing, or at least abstentions, from one of the opposition parties to push it through.

A spokesman for Mr Mackay said: ‘This Scottish Conservative dossier is a deeply flawed and superficial analysis which has significant double-counting, fails to acknowledge decisions taken to provide additional investment and totally overlooks cases where extra spending has been essential because of unforeseen circumstances.’

He was, however, unable to provide any specific examples of double-counting or to explain why additional costs due to unforeseen issues should not be seen as waste.

The spokesman added: ‘We have a strong record on efficiency savings and the independent Auditor General recently said there is “a good record of financial management”.

‘So we will take no lectures on waste from a Tory party which is squandering countless billions on Trident weapons of mass destruction.

‘Ruth Davidson’s bogus rhetoric on tax is exposed by the fact she wants to tax sickness and education by bringing back prescription charges and tuition fees – and her party is cutting Scotland’s budget by £2.9billion, 9 per cent in real terms, by the end of this decade compared with when they took office at Westminster.

‘Our tax proposals were in our manifesto, which was resoundingly backed in the election just over six months ago. Those proposals are founded on fairness and we will outline them in more detail this coming week.’

Comment – Page 16

‘Enough of excuses and complaints’