JOHN Swinney has hit out at Tories over their "hypocrisy" on the workplace parking levy.
The Scottish Government has agreed in principle with the Greens to give the power to impliment the parking levy to local authorities as part of their Budget deal.
Swinney, who was covering for Nicola Sturgeon who is on a working trip to the US, was asked by Tory interim Jackson Carlaw if he had envisaged "he would be voting to thump [ordinary Scots] workers with a new levy equivalent to a tax hike of 10p in the pound".
"Many of us have been hearing from ordinary Scots this week who are deeply alarmed about plans to charge them for taking their own car to work," the Conservative said.
He went on to claim that a £400 annual charge would be the equivalent of increasing the basic rate of income tax from 20p to 30p for workers earning the real living wage.
Swinney accused the Tories of "hypocrisy", saying senior members of the party, including Ruth Davidson and Carlaw, had previously called for local councils to get more powers.
The Deputy First Minister added: "As Jackson Carlaw goes purple faced it's a bit rich to accuse me of theatrical performances. Presiding Officer, the Conservatives have fought the 2016 and 2017 elections on a commitment to empower local authorities. The Scottish Government, when the Conservatives would play absolutely no part in the process of setting a budget for this Parliament, cannot then come along and complain that this governement – in agreement with the Green party – has been prepared to reempower local authorities. That, Mr Carlaw, is rank hypocrisy even from you."
He continued: "What the Conservatives have to be reminded about is that if we had listened to them on the Budget... we would have had to contemplate... taking £500 million out of the budget of the Scottish Parliament, punishing families, punishing public services... That's what the Tories wanted to inflict on Scotland."
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