BLUSTERING Boris Johnson got his sums wrong at Prime Minister's Questions today - when he claimed Scotland has the "highest taxes anywhere in Europe".
The claim came during a rambling attack on SNP "seperatists" during Johnson's debut at PMQs, the first since Parliament returned from summer recess on Tuesday.
Made after a question by SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford as embattled Johnson continued trying to save his Brexit plan and shore up his support after losing more than a score of MPs, he told the House: "There's a reason, Mr Speaker, why the separatists, the separatists in Scotland, drone on and on about breaking up, about smashing, the oldest and most successful political union.
"There's a reason why they go on about it and that is to detract from their appalling domestic record. They are a total shambles - look at them.
"They have the higest taxes anywhere in Europe, their educational standard's falling, for which they are responsible. They are responsible for it. And their signature policy - this is a useful one - is to return after Brexit, to return Scotland to the EU compete with the euro and the full panoply of EU laws and, as I never tire of saying Mr Speaker, surrendering Scottish fish just as they ave been taken back by this country."
READ MORE: PMQs: Ian Blackford asks Johnson if he's a dictator or democrat
But calculations show average income tax rates are far higher in some other European nations than in Scotland, or the UK.
In Belgium, middle earners on a £28,000 salary pay a rate of 49%.
The level for France is 48% and stands at 47% in both Italy and Germany, while the Spanish figure is 40% and Denmark's is 38%.
For the UK - according to calculations by the Institute for Fiscal Studies using data from the Office for National Statistics and Euromod - this number is 28%, with top earners taxed at 51%, behind Denmark, France and Belgium, which has set its rate for those on high salaries at 67%.
Scotland has set its intermediate rate of income tax - for those on £24,945-£43,430 - at 21%, with the top rate - applicable to earners on £150,000 and above - levied at 46%.
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