Highest taxes in UK are good for you, says Nicola
NICOLA Sturgeon yesterday defended her plan to make Scotland the most taxed part of the UK – by saying the extra income will fund more SNP giveaways.
The party’s proposals could see middle-class families pay £3,000 more income tax than those in the rest of the UK over five years.
But Miss Sturgeon said Scots already enjoy benefits such as the abolition of tuition fees, free prescriptions and free personal care for the elderly – and vowed that the extra money would fund more ‘universal benefits’.
Her comments came on the first weekend of campaigning for the Scottish election, which was dominated by tax issues.
Under the SNP’s income tax plan, George Osborne’s rise in the threshold for the higher 40p rate from £43,000 to £45,000 would not be passed on in Scotland. SNP leader Miss Sturgeon said: ‘Over the past nine years the SNP government has protected and extended a number of key social benefits, using tax revenue responsibly to pay for policies that protect people’s incomes and mitigate the impact of Tory austerity.’
Scottish Labour, under Kezia Dugdale, has also been involved in a row over its plans to raise every tax band by 1p, sparking claims that those on low incomes would be hit. But a spokesman said: ‘Those earning under £20,000 won’t pay a penny more than they pay today because of changes to the personal allowance.’
Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson said some firms were already struggling to attract high-paid workers. She said: ‘My fear is that the kind of tax rises that Nicola Sturgeon is proposing will drive jobs away.’
Lib Dem chief Willie Rennie warned that SNP plans to cut air passenger duty could ‘damage the environment’.
ITHINK you can tell a lot about people by the way they eat Easter eggs. Nicola Sturgeon, you would imagine, would look at the packaging closely to see whether the egg was made in Scotland. If it wasn’t, she would probably nibble on an edge with a faint look of distrust on her face, then carefully repackage the rest for later (which she wouldn’t ever touch).
I could see Labour’s Kezia Dugdale being keen to tuck in but, aware of what this might do for her image, she would refrain from doing so in public – only to delight in scoffing the chocolate in private.
It is pretty clear Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson wouldn’t give two hoots who saw her eating whatever she wanted and would devour as much as possible, laughing and thoroughly enjoying it as she did so.
Patrick Harvie, for the Greens, would surely only go for it if he was sure the egg was organic, the packaging recycled and the chocolate produced by fairly treated workers – and even then you would imagine he would find some way of criticising it.
Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie would no doubt eat chocolate for the cameras – then go for a fivemile run to work off the calories.
So what would that tell us? Perhaps that the First Minister is cautious, serious and maybe even a bit obsessive while Scotland’s Labour leader is not yet confident enough in public. It might mean that Ms Davidson is prepared to do her own thing whether her spin doctors like it or not, that Mr Harvie is a bit of a sourpuss and Mr Rennie has a Calvinist streak he can’t quite shake off.
This may not be the most scientific way of analysing the qualities our leaders possess but it’s probably as accurate as most others, simply because it’s based on gut instinct and superficial impressions – for that is how most voters assess our party leaders.
This is actually more important than ever because, whether we like it or not, we are now, well and truly, in the era of personality politics.
Largely, this is because of the TV debates. Parties are now seen through their leaders. Each comes to embody the group they represent. If they’re seen as jolly and fun-loving, that comes to define, at least in part, their parties.
The Conservatives realise this. That is why they are putting Ms Davidson’s name on every ballot paper in Scotland.
Labour probably realise it too, which is why they are not putting Ms Dugdale’s name on every ballot paper in the same way.
For all opposition parties, however, this campaign is very much a question of trying get some positive exposure for their leaders in Ms Sturgeon’s slipstream.
The First Minister is the SNP’s greatest asset. She is at the height of her powers and will be hard to knock off course – as was shown in the first TV debate last week.
But one of the biggest problems for the opposition leaders is that large sections of the public seem to have already made up their minds, not just about the government of Scotland but about the country’s future too.
According to a major new social attitudes survey published last week, a majority of Scots (51 per cent) now back independence.
However, even more incredible than that, 43 per cent believe Scotland’s economy would be better off under independence as opposed to 37 per cent who believe it would be worse off.
THIS survey was published just as the much-respected Institute for Fiscal Studies reported that, if Scotland had voted Yes, it would now be staring at a £10 billion black hole in its finances thanks to plummeting oil revenues.
Any outside observer might conclude that such damning figures would undermine both the SNP’s election chances and Ms Sturgeon’s credibility.
Not a bit of it. It is baffling, perplexing and must confound every Unionist in the country but, with every study that emerges showing how catastrophic independence would have been financially, more Scots decide to back it.
This is the main reason why Ms Sturgeon appears unbeatable. It doesn’t matter what is said by others or what happens in the real world, for those who have signed up to the cause, nothing will shake them from the path.
It’s a depressing scenario facing her rivals as they rest this weekend before starting the election campaign proper next week, a campaign which could be the hardest any of them has ever embarked upon.
The SNP has massive and unprecedented support; more money to spend than its rivals and, in Ms Sturgeon, the most respected and trusted leader.
The other party leaders could, though, look to the real message of Easter, that of resurrection and rebirth. That might give them some, small sense of hope before what will surely be an uphill battle for the next five weeks. Alternatively, they could always seek succour in chocolate – and eat it any way they like.