Benefits up and a quiet ditching of a timetable
INDEPENDENCE
IN her 20-minute speech yesterday, Nicola Sturgeon did not directly mention the word ‘independence’ once – but she did refer repeatedly to a need for ‘Scotland’s voice’ to be heard.
The manifesto said the Holyrood election delivered a ‘democratic mandate’ for a referendum on separation which was ‘underlined’ by a Holyrood vote in which the Greens teamed up with the SNP to demand the power to hold another vote. It was claimed that winning a majority of Scottish seats would complete a ‘triple lock, further reinforcing the democratic mandate which already exists’.
However, Theresa May has said she will not discuss a referendum before Brexit is complete – and the Tory manifesto states that there will not be another vote until there is clear ‘public consent’ – and opinion polls show more Scots do not want one.
Although the manifesto says it would be ‘democratically unsustainable’ for the Prime Minister to oppose a referendum ‘on a timescale determined by the Scottish parliament’ in these circumstances, it makes no mention of Miss Sturgeon’s previous timescale, which proposed a vote between next autumn and spring of 2019.
TAX
THE SNP’s manifesto proposes that the top rate of income tax be increased across the UK from 45p to 50p. Powers over the tax are devolved to Scotland – and the SNP opted against raising the higher rate in its budget for this year.
Miss Sturgeon claims the increase needs to take place UK-wide because the Scottish parliament does not have power over tax avoidance, and there is a risk income could reduce.
The SNP has already made Scotland the highest taxed part of the UK by freezing the rate at which Scots start paying the 40p rate at £43,000, compared with £45,000 elsewhere. Miss Sturgeon said yesterday that ‘a tax cut for the top 10 per cent of income earners when public spending is under pressure is the wrong priority’.
She also said she would scrap the married couples’ allowance across the UK, which allows partners to shave up to £845 a year off their tax bill, and reverse the cut in the bank levy. The SNP says its proposals would bring in an extra £10billion over the five-year lifetime of the next parliament.
BENEFITS/PUBLIC SPENDING
MISS Sturgeon said the SNP would oppose the decision to freeze working-age benefits and demand that the cap on claiming child tax credits for families with more than two children would be scrapped – which would end the so-called ‘rape clause’.
She would also demand the reversal of cuts to employment and support allowance and oppose Tory plans to reduce spending on social security by £9billion over the next four years.
But it is unclear how these policies could be afforded without massively increased borrowing. Miss Sturgeon said her proposals would cost an extra £80billion over the lifetime of the next parliament – £70billion more than her tax plans will raise.
BUSINESS AND THE ECONOMY
MISS Sturgeon opposed plans to cut corporation tax, vowed to force businesses across the UK to pay a ‘minimum wage’ of more than £10 an hour by 2022 and pledged to end the 1 per cent cap on public sector pay rises in Scotland. But she provided little in the way of policy to boost the economy – despite rising concern about Scotland lagging behind the rest of the UK.
IMMIGRATION
THE SNP manifesto calls for powers over immigration to be devolved so that Scotland can attract more European migrants to work in the NHS and social care. It also calls for the reintroduction of the post-study work visa.
HEALTH
NATIONALIST MPs would demand NHS spending be increased by £11billion above inflation over the next parliament – in England. They would anger many English MPs by trying to influence policy south of the Border in a devolved area, but the SNP states it would lead to an extra £1billion of investment in Scotland’s NHS.