THERESA May got herself in a muddle after she was tackled on the government’s shameful decision to keep hold of Police Scotland’s VAT.

The Prime Minister seemed to think VAT was devolved and then, bizarrely, answered by reiterating her support for “shoot-to-kill.”

May was making a brief campaign stop in Edinburgh, where she addressed a handful of enthusiastic activists gathered in a warehouse.

A journalist asked her if she would consider removing VAT from Police Scotland so they can “invest £25 million extra in frontline services here”.

“Well first of all I think you should be very careful when you look at what the Scottish Nationalists did in relation to VAT up here,” the Prime Minister responded.

VAT is entirely reserved. EU rules mean a member state cannot have differential rates within it.

May then sidestepped the question on Police Scotland’s VAT bill, instead saying her government had increased the number of armed police officers in the rest of the UK. She then attacked Corbyn for opposing anti-terror legislation. “What’s more, I very much support the police being able to shoot to kill,” she added. “On Saturday night in just eight minutes the police had shot and killed the attackers, and that saved countless lives.”

Calum Steele from the Scottish Police Federation called it a “frankly embarrassing” answer which showed an “ignorance of what’s going on in Scotland.”

Each year Police Scotland has a VAT bill of between £23m and £25m, while the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service pays about £10m. They are the only territorial emergency services in the UK unable to recover VAT. 

The only other forces who don't get their VAT back from HMRC are British Transport Police, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, the National Crime Agency, and the Ministry of Defence Police Force.

Despite repeated requests, the UK Government has never sought to fix what the SNP have long described as an unfairness. HMRC says the Scottish Government was warned in 2012, when the forces became national rather than regional, that they “would become ineligible for VAT refunds.”

The SNP Depute Leader Angus Robertson said May’s lack of answer in Edinburgh was telling.

“Theresa May flew into Scotland to once again lecture people on the constitution – but instead she betrayed her staggering ignorance of the damage her government is doing to public services in Scotland.

“The Prime Minister was clearly unaware that thanks to her government, Police Scotland is the only territorial force in the UK to be charged VAT. This was a shambolic performance from a clueless Prime Minister.”

The Tory position on VAT is an indefensible decision which has short-changed Police Scotland of tens of millions of pounds – and Theresa May is bang to rights.”

Tory activists were instructed to cheer and clap when May made the visit to Edinburgh, so it did not “look like there is no one here”. Minutes before the PM and the Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson arrived at Clockwork Removals and Storage, an organiser told the group of about 70 to give them an enthusiastic welcome.

Robertson said: “The surreal sight of Theresa May addressing activists in a removal warehouse served only to underline the opportunity that the people of Scotland have to remove her majority on Thursday.”