Scots Tory leader Findlay ‘not holding breath’ on budget deal

Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay has said he is “not holding my breath” on achieving a budget deal with the Scottish Government.

The key ask of the party, he told the Press Association, is the reduction of income tax.

The Government has seemed reticent at the idea of reducing the income tax burden, particularly as it faces down a near-£5 billion black hole by the end of this decade.

Finance Secretary Shona Robison will lay out the Government’s budget proposals in January.

But the SNP will still need to find the required votes to pass its budget Bill in a shorter period as a result of May’s election.

“We will go into the negotiations in good faith, as we did the last time around,” he said.

“We will go in explaining we want to reduce the tax burden, not in a reckless or ill-conceived way, but with properly costed ways in which that can be achieved.

“I think most people in the real world know that with the SNP being a socialist government, who believe in tax and spend, they will not really have much time for what we are proposing – I’d be astonished if they did so.

“We’ll see how that transpires, because the last time we went with similar proposals, it felt like a bit of a phony dance that they were doing with us and they duly rejected us and then they had their budget passed by others.

“We’ll see, but I’m not holding my breath.”

The income tax system in Scotland, which was devolved as part of changes to the powers of Holyrood following the independence referendum, is “punitive”, the Scottish Tory leader said.

“It has been designed by the SNP, not actually to raise revenue, but to virtue signal,” he said.

The leader added: “It infuriates me when John Swinney and other left wing politicians – Anas Sarwar and these people – talk about ‘asking people to contribute more’ or ‘those with the broadest shoulders’.

“You’re not asking people – you’re picking their pockets.

“This is not people with the broadest shoulders, this is police officers, nurses, small business owners, people grafting tirelessly to try and provide for them and their families.”