“Utterly hypocritical” SNP remain opposed to Scottish Labour tax plans

Scottish Labour has accused the SNP of hypocrisy over their refusal to make top earners pay more tax in order to avoid cuts to public services.

In February, Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale announced a pledge to raise income tax in Scotland by a penny, with much of the money raised going into Scotland’s failing education system. The plan included a rebate scheme for those earning less than £20,000, to ensure that low earners would not be hit by the tax rise.

But with the increase in the personal tax threshold announced in George Osborne’s Budget, Labour now says the payment scheme is not necessary because low earners will not lose out. The rebate was only intended to last until 2017, when new tax threshold powers are devolved to Scotland.

Party sources today stressed that the policy continues to meet the two conditions that were agreed when it was first conceived: that top earners would pay more, and that low earners wouldn’t.

A spokesperson for Scottish Labour said that “those earning under £20,000 won’t pay a penny more than they pay today because of the recent changes being made to the personal allowance. Our decision to increase the top rate, and to maintain the threshold for higher rate tax payers as it is today, means the wealthiest will pay the most to stop the cuts.”

The SNP has attacked Labour over the plans, but Shadow Scotland Secretary Ian Murray today branded the nationalists “utterly hypocritical” for refusing to raise taxes for the wealthy and end “Tory austerity in Scotland”.

“We have made a very simple pledge – a Scottish Labour Government will stop the cuts and low income earners will not pay a penny more than they do today,” Murray said. “That means Tory austerity in Scotland can come to an end, because we will be bold enough to use the new powers to invest in the future. Unlike the SNP, we will never use the Scottish Parliament as a conveyor belt for Tory cuts.

“Those at the bottom won’t pay a penny more than they do now and will be protected from cuts with Labour. With the SNP those at the top won’t pay a penny more than they do now and the poorest will pay the price with deeper cuts.”

Murray also hit out at First Minister Nicola Sturgeon for breaking a pledge to reveal an anti-poverty strategy.

Sturgeon said in January that she would “respond formally” to a report she commissioned from her poverty tsar. However, pre-election rules mean that the Scottish Government cannot now make politically sensitive announcements until after May 5. Murray says this shows up the SNP’s claim to be anti-austerity as “utterly hypocritical.”

“Only the Tories and the SNP stand against the wealthiest paying their fair share to stop the cuts. How on earth can the SNP claim to be anti austerity? On the day Nicola Sturgeon appears to have ditched her own poverty advisor’s report, the SNP’s position is utterly hypocritical,” he said.

“Our tax plans, including asking the richest 1% to pay their fair share, mean we can stop the cuts to schools and other vital public services. Investing in education benefits everyone and helps to grow our economy.

“Faced with a choice between using the powers of the Scottish Parliament to invest in our economy or carrying on with the SNP’s cuts to schools, Labour will use the powers.”