Put your money where your mouth is, Mr Mackay

WE all know that there are some unfortunate souls who find it hard to sleep, so this bit of advice is for them. Find the speech made by Derek Mackay, our Finance Secretary, in the parliament last week and give it a read.

This was the speech responding to the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement – which in itself was a fairly sleep-inducing snorathon.

Better still, find Mr Mackay’s statement on the parliament website and listen to it, as it was delivered, with all his woe-is-me delivery and baleful criticism of the UK Government.

Unfortunately, I didn’t fall asleep when I heard it. It did, though, make me angry – very angry.

Here’s why: go behind the raft of statistics and bore-you-to-tears delivery and you’ll find an appalling piece of self-justifying, pass-the-buck, cowardly hokum.

Mr Mackay’s theme was simple and well worn: the UK Government is terribly mean; the Conservatives are squeezing Scotland and not giving us enough money; everything is crumbling and it’s all their fault.

It was a wonder, in fact, that he didn’t stick his thumb in his mouth and sulk like an angry toddler at the end of it.

Now, as it happens, Mr Mackay delivered this speech on the same day as the Scottish parliament was granted the power to vary all income taxes in Scotland; the rates, the bands, the lot.

That is crucial because it provides a very important piece of context to the rubbish Mr Mackay spouted in the chamber.

What this means is that, if Mr Mackay didn’t like the fact that Westminster was cutting Scotland’s budget, as he claimed, then – for the first time ever – the solution was right at his fingertips.

He could simply use his new tax-raising powers to take the extra money from the taxpayer north of the Border and, hey presto, all his problems would be solved.

Mr Mackay does intend to do a little bit of surreptitious taxraising. He plans to withhold a tax break that is coming the way of higher-rate earners in the rest of the UK.

But this sly tax rise is actually the worst thing he could do: it will send out the message that the wealthy will be taxed more in Scotland, while not raising enough money to make a real difference to public services.

If Mr Mackay really was as ‘progressive’ as he claims to be, he would use those new tax powers to squeeze the rich until the pips squeak and hand it all out in benefits and subsidies to the less well off.

But this is where his argument falls down. He can’t keep moaning and carping on about how hard done-by he is while refusing to do something about it.

SNP Ministers say there are two reasons they don’t want to raise taxes: first, because their manifesto didn’t contain any promises to do that; and second, they claim it would be unfair to make Scots pay for austerity imposed by the Westminster Government on the whole UK.

Let’s take these two in turn. The SNP manifesto did not contain a commitment to raise taxes – but it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for the Nats to argue that circumstances have changed since the election, so much so that extra money is desperately needed to boost the economy.

After all, they have claimed that circumstances have changed enough for them to put independence back on the agenda again.

But it is the argument about not burdening Scots which is the most absurd of all. Scots already get about £1,400 per person more per year from the UK Treasury than their English counterparts; so it is the English who are paying, both for the austerity and for our generous subsidies, not us.

In fact, to make the situation fairer, we Scots should pay for all the extra funding that we receive, not live off the largesse of other UK taxpayers and then complain that we are not getting enough – which is what Mr Mackay is doing.

SNP Ministers have lived off grudge and grievance politics for as long as anyone can remember. Well, now it’s time they stopped.

If Mr Mackay doesn’t like the current situation, then he should do something about it, rather than whining and moaning about it.

There is, of course, one big reason why the Scottish Government won’t whack up taxes across the board: the public won’t wear it.

Everyone wants more money for public services – but no one wants to be the one to pay for it.

THAT, unfortunately, is the way of the world. It is true in England and – although the SNP is loath to admit it – it is true in Scotland too. What’s more, Mr Mackay knows it. This is why he will fiddle with the taxes round the edges but he won’t start squeezing most taxpayers in their pockets, because that is the surest way possible to electoral disaster.

However, it has gone way beyond parody for SNP Ministers to blame everything on the UK Government when they now – finally and completely – have the power to do something about it.

Saying you want more money and then failing to use the powers at your disposal is political cowardice.

Blaming someone else when you are the ones responsible for current spending is low-down, political expediency – and Mr Mackay is guilty of both.

It is time for the SNP in general, and Mr Mackay in particular, to put his money where his mouth is.

If he doesn’t, then we can only assume that he is happy with the current situation. If that is the case, he should stop carping and blaming everybody else.