Swinney: Taxing private jets to subsidise rail travel is ‘welcome suggestion’

Calls for a new tax on private jets to be introduced to help fund cheaper rail fares are a “welcome suggestion”, John Swinney has said.

The First Minister described the possible policy as “very interesting” – hinting perhaps that the Scottish Government could back such a move in a bid to win support of the Scottish Greens for the budget.

With the SNP in minority administration after the powersharing deal with the Greens ended earlier this year, the First Minister and his Finance Secretary, Shona Robison, need to find support from at least one other party at Holyrood in order to pass next year’s budget.

With a pilot scheme, which removed peak fares from all ScotRail journeys, ending on Friday, Scottish Green co-leader Lorna Slater said taxing private jets could be one way to find the cash to allow train travellers to continue to enjoy cheaper travel.

The policy has been suggested by campaigners at Oxfam Scotland, with Ms Slater putting it to the First Minister at Holyrood on Thursday.

The Green MSP said: “Oxfam has reported that £21.5 million a year, that is enough to abolish peak fares for good, could be raised through a tax on private jets.”

She then asked the First Minister if he would “work with the UK Government to urgently introduce this tax so that commuters can once again have fair prices on our trains”.

Mr Swinney said: “I think that is a very interesting and welcome suggestion that Lorna Slater makes.”

He added: “As for taxing private jets, I would be very much in the spirit of doing that.”

The First Minister’s comments came as he highlighted the need to find a deal with opposition politicians to  agree the 2025-26 budget – with Mr Swinney insisting he would be “happy to engage with all willing partners around the Parliament on agreeing budget measures”.

Ms Slater told MSPs the Greens had “championed” the pilot scheme to remove peak-time fares, which has run for the last year, while they were part of the Scottish Government.

The First Minister said, however, that “not enough difference had been made to the patterns of travel” as a result of the scheme for the Government to continue to fund it during a time when ministers are facing “enormous” financial pressures.

“However much we wish to take forward the peak fares pilot into implementation, we simply don’t have the resources to enable that to be the case for the scale of impact that the pilot identified,” Mr Swinney said.

The end of the trial means that from Monday, an anytime return ticket between Glasgow and Edinburgh will cost £31.40 instead of £16.20.

Jamie Livingstone, the head of Oxfam Scotland, said it was “encouraging to hear the First Minister is open to introducing a private jet tax in Scotland”.

But he added: “Words alone aren’t enough – it’s time he engaged with the UK Government to give this tax full clearance for take-off.

“Faster action to raise money to invest in green initiatives like scrapping peak fares can no longer be delayed.

“It’s time to make the richest polluters pay the bill for their lavish, climate-wrecking lifestyles. Their payment is already long overdue.”