Budget is one-way ticket to bankruptcy

SNP First Minister John Swinney and Finance Secretary Shona Robison (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell)

Tuesday’s budget debate was predictably depressing with the left-wing cabal consensus presiding over the approval of a spending programme which hammers hard-working people.

Two figures stood out to me, which might appear contradictory. First of all, freezing the top three income tax bands from £43,663, will cost taxpayers £76 million this year, and up to £244m a year by 2029-30.

Yet the failure to grow the Scottish economy means the SNP is generating around £800m less in tax than it should because the number of people paying tax is falling at an alarming rate. The more they tax the less they receive, but then we’ve been warning that for years.

But at the same time, they will be paying £6.86 billion in benefits this year, a rise of £800m, over £200m more than forecast. The more working people are taxed, the more they must subsidise those who are not, a quarter of the working age population in some areas.

They must bankroll those in the burgeoning public sector who have enjoyed pay deals 5 per cent above inflation since 2019 compared to zero for their English counterparts, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which also condemned the Scottish income tax system’s “completely unwarranted complexity”.

Unfortunately, the Scottish Parliament is dominated by MSPs who believe the private sector is only there to fund an ever-expanding state and an untouchable welfare system. It is a one-way ticket to bankruptcy unless a new approach is taken, one which only the Scottish Conservatives are prepared to offer.

Sue Webber is a Scottish Conservative MSP for Lothian