Bowie under fire for twin rule remarks

The SNP has rounded on Tory MP Andrew Bowie after he said he was “sad” Scotland has two governments.

In his Budget debate speech calling for the Scottish Government to reduce the widening tax gap with the rest of the UK, he said the contrast between the two administrations “could not be starker”.

And he branded the Holyrood government “central belt biased, economically illiterate, ideologically dogmatic, anti-aspiration, antiwealth creation, antibusiness and distracted”, claiming it “punishes the strivers and the grafters while we reward them”.

To protestations from the nationalist benches, he continued: “In Scotland we have two

“One focused on ripping apart our country”

governments – sadly – and the contrast could not be starker.

“One focussed on ripping apart our country, the other on growing it and helping our people grow with it.”

Clarifying his position in the Commons chamber, the West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine MP added: “Well, it is sad in terms of who is in government in Edinburgh.”

And last night he told The Press and Journal: “I was sad comparing the approaches of Scotland’s two governments to managing Scotland’s economy.”

But the SNP’s Drew Hendry said the Conservatives had “again shown themselves to be the party completely out of touch with the Scottish public in their opposition to devolution”.

The Highland MP added: “As the only political party in Scotland which opposed a Scottish Parliament, it seems a leopard cannot change its spots.”