FOR Derek Mackay the hard work starts now.
The Finance Secretary’s party doesn’t command a majority in Holyrood and the only way he can get the Budget passed is to win the support of opposition MSPs.
For the last two years it’s been Green MSPs who’ve helped the SNP get their tax and spending plans across the line.
But yesterday Patrick Harvie made clear that there would be no support from his party unless the Finance Secretary promised to reform council tax.
He was furious that there was no mention of tax reform during Mackay’s speech.
READ MORE: Derek Mackay ignores Tory pleas to cut taxes for richest
Harvie said: “It’s reckless for this minority government to be in this position, so late in the day, where it is refusing reasonable offers to negotiate over its spending plans. It has known for months what the Greens’ precondition for talks is and we are almost out of time.
“If the Finance Secretary wants to bring some stability to these uncertain times, he’s going a strange way about it.”
It seems unlikely Labour,
who blasted the SNP for being too timid to tax the well-off, or the Tories, who blasted the SNP for being too eager to tax the well-off, will help Mackay.
The LibDems have said they’re only willing to talk with Mackay if the “SNP park their independence campaign”. That scenario seems unlikely.
However, the Finance Secretary has time to negotiate as the first vote on the Budget isn’t until the end of January.
Away from Holyrood, there was a mixed reaction to Mackay’s plans.
John Dickie, the director of the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland, said it had been a “missed opportunity to go further and, at the very least, allocate the resources raised by freezing the higher rate tax threshold to lift thousands of children in Scotland out of poverty”.
CBI Scotland director Tracy Black, pictured above, welcomed below-inflation increases on business rates and said she was keen to know more new upskilling and retraining proposals.
But she sounded a note of caution over tax plans: “With weak growth, demographics shrinking our workforce and Brexit continuing to cause uncertainty, the failure to close the growing income tax gap between Scotland and the rest of the UK puts added pressure on an economy already crying out for talent and investment.”
The PCS union have accused Mackay of reneging on “an assurance to begin restoring public servants’ wages”.
Lynn Henderson from the trade union said the 3% hike “just isn’t good enough”.
“It’s below inflation and therefore, it’s a pay cut,” she added.
Moira Kelly, chair of the Chartered Institute of Taxation said the rates freeze would mean people who receive certain types of in-work benefits, such as Universal Credit, might not gain as much as others.
“For every extra pound gained in reduced income tax, they will lose 63p in Universal Credit, meaning that they will only benefit to the tune of £7.40 per year,” she said.
Universities Scotland said the fine print in the Budget revealed a funding drop in real terms of 1.79%.
Professor Andrea Nolan of Napier University said: “This returns universities to a series of real terms cuts that the Government stopped last year.”
Andrew McRae of the Federation of Small Businesses added: “Like smaller firms across Scotland, Derek Mackay today showed that he’s getting on with business despite the Brexit backdrop.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel