Praise as Hammond scraps police VAT bill

PHILIP Hammond’s pledge to give Scotland’s police and fire services a £35million-a-year boost was hailed yesterday as ‘cleaning up the SNP’s mess’.

The Chancellor will scrap the need for Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to pay VAT.

Since the merger of previous regional forces in April 2013, both emergency services have been forced to pay the levy at a cost of more than £140million. Mr Hammond said he had been ‘persuaded’ by Scottish Tory MPs to axe the VAT bill from April 2018. He added: ‘I am getting used to the experience of having my ear bent by 13 Scottish Conservative colleagues, most recently on the issue of Scottish police and fire VAT.

‘The Scottish National Party knew the rules and knew the consequences of introducing these bodies and ploughed ahead anyway.

‘My Scottish Conservative colleagues have persuaded me the Scottish people should not lose out because of the obstinacy of the SNP Government.’

This means that the Scottish Government will be able to claim back VAT paid by the forces from next year – estimated to be around £35million annually.

Police Scotland Deputy Chief Constable Iain Livingstone said Mr Hammond had made the ‘right decision’ and that ‘additional funds will help policing in Scotland’.

Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson said her party was ‘cleaning up the SNP’s mess when it comes to police and fire service VAT payments’.

But First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it was ‘an absolute disgrace it has taken the UK Government so many years to do the right thing here’.

She added: ‘Police Scotland and the fire service in Scotland should never have been paying VAT and they are the only emergency services in the UK that do so.’