No more playing the blame game

If Churchill was right that “to improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often”, then Scotland must be enjoying politics at its best.

In a few short years, we have seen a majority government elected at Holyrood, a historic referendum on independence and the introduction of a bill which will give Scotland one of the most powerful parliaments in the world.

Let’s take a minute to remember how we got here. The independence referendum meant that, for the first time in our Union’s long history, we had our say on it through the ballot box.

The verdict was clear – a decisive majority wanted Scotland to continue enjoying the best of both worlds, as full members of the UK family, but with our own strong Scottish Parliament, too.

That mandate led to the Smith Commission Agreement – a plan to make Scotland’s place in the UK more secure, signed up to by all five of Scotland’s political parties in full. When you hear SNP politicians saying Smith does not go far enough, remember they put their names to it and stood on an election manifesto to implement it.

In last month’s UK general election the Conservatives won an overall majority, with commitments to maintain economic stability and turn the Smith proposals into law.

I was delighted to make the case for those changes in the Commons this week at the Scotland Bill’s second reading. We are determined to get this done as soon as we can, so that when the people of Scotland vote next year they can know what powers their new government will have.

Which leads neatly to the next historic item to add to the list – the election of a Scottish Government which will be responsible for making real tax and spending decisions for the first time in more than three centuries.

That is now the real debate in Scottish politics: who will form the next Scottish Government in May next year – and how will their policies affect the finances of every household in the land?

For the first time, Scots will be choosing a government at Holyrood which will have control over income tax.

It will also be able to determine the shape and cost of our benefits system and will have a range of levers which will make the Scottish Parliament a powerhouse.

At Westminster, the Conservative government will continue to make income tax policy for the rest of the UK – cutting taxes for the lowest earners, as we did in the last parliament, not increasing the rates of income tax and raising the 40p income tax threshold to £50,000, to stop people like teachers and senior nurses being pulled into the higher rate.

What we did in the last parliament meant a typical tax cut of £825 for millions of taxpayers, with the very lowest-paid earners taken out of income tax altogether. That meant more money in the pockets of Scottish families.

In this parliament, we will go further, taking everyone earning less than £12,500 out of income tax altogether and passing a law to ensure we have a tax-free minimum wage.

We set our stall out in the recent UK general election campaign – and I passionately believe the people of Scotland now have a right to know what the next Scottish Government will do with its tax powers.

Ruth Davidson, for example, has spelled out the Conservative approach – never having higher rates of income tax in Scotland than in the rest of the UK.

But Deputy First Minister John Swinney, who is also the SNP’s finance minister, refused to support that. This week, he said he is considering raising taxes next year, instead of finding efficiencies in government spending.

That is his choice – once tax and welfare powers are sent to Holyrood, a Scottish Government will have the ability to increase spending and borrowing if they want to and to top up welfare payments in Scotland.

But if he does that, the buck will stop with him and his party.

The SNP will need to be straight with voters next year that the consequences of those policies will be laid on the shoulders of Scottish taxpayers.

So 2016 will be another historic year for Scotland – it will be the year when the ability to play the blame game and say it is all someone else’s fault will be gone for good.

“For the first time, Scots will be choosing a government at Holyrood which will have control over income tax