THERESA May has given the biggest indication yet that Chancellor Philip Hammond will U-turn on VAT charges for Scotland’s police and fire services.
The Tory leader hinted at the move during Prime Minister’s Questions. But the Prime Minister left the SNP chief stunned when she said any change of heart from the Treasury would have nothing to do with Scottish Government demands, or pleas from Police Scotland or the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. Instead, May said any change would be be because of representations from Scotland’s 13 Tory MPs.
The SNP’s Ian Blackford called May’s response “pitiful”.
He told the Prime Minister the anomaly that means the Scottish emergency services pay VAT had deprived frontline services of £140 million since 2013.
He asked: “The SNP has raised this issue 30 times in this chamber. Will the UK Government now give Scotland’s emergency services our £140 million back and scrap the VAT?”
The Prime Minister pointed out that the Scottish Government knew this would happen when they voted to merge the services back in 2012 — a proposal the Scottish Tories backed. May told Blackford: “The Chief Secretary has made it clear that officials in Her Majesty’s Treasury will look at this issue, and they will report on it in due course.
“I am pleased to say that very constructive representations have been made by my Scottish colleagues on the Conservative Benches on this particular issue.”
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